Cuttack: Taking serious note of Odisha government officials' casual attire while appearing for court proceedings at the Orissa High Court, the officials have been directed to follow proper dress code.
In a letter to the Odisha Chief Secretary, Asit Tripathy from office of the Advocate General (AG), it has been mentioned that many government officials are not ‘properly dressed’ while appearing before the court.
Mentioning that HC takes a serious note of such lapses on the part of the concerned government officials, the AG office has requested to issue appropriate instruction to all the authorities in this regard so that ‘unnecessary embarrassment can be avoided’
“Ideally, during government duty, officials should wear proper dress. I don’t know why dress code is not followed,” former administrator Sahdev Sahu said.
Former Odisha DGP Sanjeev Marik said, “Since the government officials are appearing for public hearing they should follow the rules.”
The letter also mentions that government officials are not filing affidavits or counter affidavits on time following which hearing of cases are being delayed.
“Whenever there is an order or direction by the Honourable Court to file affidavits, the concerned officer should do so at the earliest thereby eliminating unnecessary delay and adverse orders for non-filing of affidavit /counter affidavit,” the letter reads.
In response, the State government has directed all the Excise department officials and district collectors to adhere to the dress code and file affidavits on time.
“Counter affidavits should be filed on time or else the concerned government official will be held responsible,” senior advocate Ashok Mahapatra said.