Dhotis now in dress code at TN govt offices

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu

government

on Saturday modified its earlier order on dress code to include dhoti as formal dress for men working in state government offices. Now men working in government

offices

can wear shirts with either pants or dhoti, or any Indian traditional dress.

A second amendment to the Tamil Nadu Secretariat Official Manual has come after TOI published the earlier order issued by

chief secretary

Girija Vaidyanathan, which did not have any mention of dhoti. The CS has also modified her earlier directive to female

staff

, saying their dupatta should be of “sober colour.”

The staff are required to wear neat, clean and formal attire appropriate to the workplace, to maintain the decorum of offices. The female staff have been directed to wear

saree

or salwar kameez with dupatta. Incidentally, the Jayalalithaa government had enacted a law in 2014, which said no one can be banned from entering a place on the grounds of dress code. The initiative came after a club in Chennai prevented a judge from entering its premises as he was wearing a dhoti.