The State government has issued a Government Order implementing a dress code for all government officials across Karnataka.

Approved by the chief minister, the GO issued on September 12 states that male employees must wear formal shirts, trousers, kurtas and pyjamas, while women employees must wear a saree, chudidhar or any clothing which is ‘decent’.

The dresses which are banned from being worn on-duty by women include skirts, T-shirts and trousers. Men are not allowed to wear T-shirts to their workplace. The GO will be enforced with immediate effect.

It is said that the GO was considered on a serious note by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) after a letter was dispatched by the Secretariat Employees’  Association requesting the government to ensure some decorum in the workplace. The Association had suggested the dress code, after newly appointed recruits to government jobs started wearing clothes which were “destroying the decorum” of the government offices.

“The GO was issued after a request was received from the Employees’  Association appealing for a dress code among the government employees,” said DPAR Principal Secretary Shalini Rajneesh.