New Delhi, May 13, 2020: The Supreme Court on May 13 directed advocates to shed their traditional black robes and jackets for simple white cotton shirts and salwar-kameez as a precautionary measure against the spread of COVID-19 virus.
“The competent authority has been pleased to direct that the advocates may wear plain white-shirt/white-salwar-kameez/ white sari, with a plain white neck band during the hearings before the Supreme Court of India through virtual court system till medical exigencies exist or until further orders,” the circular issued by the court’s Secretary General Sanjeev S. Kalgaonkar said.
The drastic change in attire owes to medical advice. Thus the virus has become a reason for the court to relax its colonial dress code. For years, many prominent voices within the legal fraternity have been campaigning for a dress code more suitable to our tropical climate.
Earlier, before the issuance of the circular, Chief Justice S.A. Bobde broadly hinted about an intended change in dress code for lawyers during a case hearing via videoconferencing. The Bench had assembled in the CJI’s courtroom while the lawyers were present in their respective offices.
Chief Justice Bobde had told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was appearing in the case, that the change in attire was based on medical opinion that the coronavirus could spread through the gowns.
While there is still no official word on whether the court would continue to function or go on summer vacation from May 17, the court has nevertheless indicated that it would be working on a “large scale” through videoconferencing. The judges have hinted that more Benches will assemble to function as virtual courts in the coming days.
Justice Nageswara Rao, who is part of the committee supervising the court’s functioning during lockdown, said an arrangement would be made for judges to sit in their respective courtrooms while lawyers could argue their cases from their offices or chambers.
Source: The Hindu