Patna HC imposes fine on senior Govt officers on dress code

Patna, Aug 9 (UNI) Two senior bureaucrats of the Bihar government have been fined Rs 5,000 each by the Patna High Court for not adhering to the prescribed dress code inside the Court room.

The incident, the first of its kind in the history of the state, took place when Justice S K Katriar took strong exception to the apprearance of Additional District Magistrate Naresh Chowdhury and Executive Magistrate cum Revenue Office Narendra Kumar Singh into the court yesterday in a contempt case hearing wearing very colourful and gaudy T-shirts in violation of the state government's official dress code.

Recording 'strong displeasure' of the court at the casual appearance of the officers in High Court in connection with a contempt case and describing it as abominable, Justice Katriar imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on both of them.

He also directed the state Chief Secretary to take immediate steps to ensure strict adherence to the proper official dress code by all senior government officials in all official engagements.

The Chief Secretary was also directed by the Court to file an affidavit in this connection to prevent any further violation of the government dress code in future.

Incidentally, while one of the officers came to the court wearing a red and green T-shirt, the other was in a more colourful sleeves, creating flutter.

UNI