Dress code for Soudha employees

The sartorial sense of state government employees working at  Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha has come under the scanner of the state government, which is mulling over issuing an order directing employees, especially C Group and above categories, to dress up properly while attending duty.

“The government order is expected to be issued in a day or two,’’ said Shalini Rajneesh, director of Sakala and secretary, department of administrative reforms.

According to sources, few female officers had attended the recently concluded assembly session in sleeveless blouses, which, reportedly, upset senior officers.
“It conveys a wrong message to public. We have to maintain decorum while attending the assembly session and even while attending duty on a day-to-day basis,’’ said BG Shyamala, general secretary, Karnataka Government Secretariat Employees’ Association.

Sources said efforts are being made to introduce uniform for the employees of Group C and above.

They said the proposal, approved by the Karnataka Government Secretariat Employees’ Association meeting that was held recently, has been submitted to Kaushik Mukherjee, additional chief secretary for sanctioning funds to provide uniform for around 3,500 employees working at Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha.

Sources said the government may take some more time to sanction funds for procuring uniform for thousands of employees. “As of now, Group D employees have been provided uniform. The idea is to have uniform for Group C and above categories to ensure dignity for employees, especially women officers. Public can easily identify section officers, under-secretaries, additional chief secretaries if they wear uniform,’’ said Shyamala.

Sources also said some officers were reluctant to carry identity cards, with few complaining of poor quality of the tag of the identity cards. They alleged that the tag of identity cards caused allergy.

“Dr Shalini Rajneesh, director, sakala and secretary, department of administrative reforms, has assured us to take measures for the supply of good quality tags for identity cards. Measures have been taken to provide different colour identity cards for officers of different categories,’’ said Shyamala.