Udhayanidhi Stalin’s ‘casual attire‘ leads to PIL in Madras High Court
The Hindu
The Madras High Court wanted to know if there any dress code prescribed for ministers after a public interest litigation (PIL) petition was filed against Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s casual attire.
The Madras High Court on Tuesday (October 29, 2024) wanted to know if there were any specific rules and regulations that prescribed the dress code to be followed by Ministers. The question was raised during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed against Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s casual attire.
A Division Bench of Justices D. Krishnakumar and P.B. Balaji granted a week’s time to Advocate General P.S. Raman and the PIL petitioner M. Sathya Kumar, an advocate by profession, to find out the relevant rules and regulations on the subject and place them before the court during the next hearing of the case.
The 37-year-old lawyer from Selaiyur in Chennai had filed the case complaining about the Deputy Chief Minister wearing T-shirts with the DMK’s election symbol ‘rising sun’ even at government events. He sought a direction to him to adhere to a Government Order (G.O.) issued on June 1, 2019, laying down the dress code to be followed by government servants.
However, the A-G told the court the G.O. was with respect to government servants and not Ministers, who were public servants. He also pointed out that the 2019 G.O. relied upon by the petitioner only states that casual attire should be “avoided” and does not prohibit it in toto.
Stating that the Deputy Chief Minister wears T-shirts because he finds them comfortable, Mr. Raman pointed out that the Chief Executive Officers of many top global corporate companies too wear T-shirts for public events and therefore, the attire could not be considered inappropriate.
After hearing him as well as the petitioner, the judges asked the A-G to take notice on behalf of the State government and make his submissions elaborately after a week.
In his affidavit, the petitioner had claimed that his grandfather G. Sundarama Reddiar was a farmers’ union leader who worked closely with former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. He said DMK strives for protecting Tamil cultural identity and therefore, is very particular about the dress to be worn by its cadre.
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