Judicial officers, lawyers ought to wear white neckband; black tie for interns: Delhi HC

Justice Prathiba Singh said advocates appearing before any court, from civil courts to SC, will have to wear white bands along with the uniform prescribed for them

Judicial officers and lawyers ought to wear white neckbands as part of the dress code, the Delhi High Court said on Thursday while prescribing white shirt, black trousers and black tie for law interns attending courts.

Justice Prathiba M Singh said advocates appearing before any court, from civil courts to Supreme Court, will have to wear white bands along with the uniform prescribed for them.

“Interns may enter court complexes with black tie, black pant and white shirt as prescribed by the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD),” the judge said.

The high court was hearing a petition by a law student challenging a 2022 circular issued by the Shahdara Bar Association resolving that interns appearing in Karkardooma District Court here ought to wear shirt and blue coat and trousers so they can be distinguished from lawyers.

The high court Thursday passed an order saying the Shahdara Bar Association’s circular would be superseded by the BCD circular which will be followed uniformly across the national capital.

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During the hearing, the counsel representing the Shahdara Bar Association submitted that a large number of judicial officers and lawyers in district and civil courts wear black ties instead of white neckbands.

He said the only intention of the bar association behind issuing the circular was to differentiate lawyers from interns and that there has to be a distinguishing feature behind the uniform of judges and lawyers on one hand and interns on the other.

Responding to his contention, Justice Singh orally said, "Lawyers and judicial officers are ought to wear white bands and interns have to wear black ties. This is a settled position. I think it is preferable for them (judicial officers and advocates) to wear white bands only."

The counsel for BCD said the distinguishing feature in the uniforms would be black tie which can be worn by interns.

The high court had on December 1, 2022 stayed the Shahdara Bar Association’s circular prescribing a different dress code for law interns to distinguish them from advocates and asked the BCD to meet all bar associations in the national capital and consensually decide a uniform dress code for interns.

The high court had said a consistent uniform should be in place because if different bar associations prescribe different uniforms, the interns will be inconvenienced.

The high court had issued notice and sought the response of BCD and Shahdara Bar Association on a petition filed by Hardik Kapoor, a second year law student, challenging the circular on the ground that it has been passed in contravention of the relevant rules prescribed by the Bar Council of India and the BCD.

Advocate Ujwal Ghai, appearing for the petitioner, argued that Shahdara Bar Association issued the circular without any authority of law and this is the classic example of misuse of its office.

The petition, filed through Shivek Rai Kapoor, Sanchit Saini and Arpit Sharma, said operation of the circular would cause unnecessary financial difficulty to interns who are already working without any stipend or with stipend of meagre amount.

The dress code for lawyers is white shirt, black coat, trousers and white neckband.