Devotees entering temples in Tamil Nadu should follow a new dress code following a High Court order even as people from various quaraters welcomed the State government’s move.

The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE), which maintains several thousand temples in the state, erected big notice boards describing new rule on dress cod near the entrance of important shrines under its control.

A senior official from the organisation on Saturday said that the dress code for entering the temples was being followed on the orders of the Madras High court early this month.

Accordingly, male devotees entering the temple have been told to wear shirt, dhoti, pyjama or full trouser while ladies and girls should wear saris or churidhar or pavadai with half-sari.

Official also said that devotees wearing lungi, bermudas, jeans and tight-leggings were strictly prohibited for entering the temple. “The dress code is also applicable to foreign nationals who visits temples”, he said.m Notice boards were placed in many major temples in the state including Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, Rameshwaram temple, Palani temple, Myilai Kabaleeswarar temple in Chennai.

“Many people especially youngesters do not come in proper dress to the temples. They feel them no one should tell them what dress to wear. However, this rule will have a uniformity”, S Venkatesan, a senior sales executive said.