Shun-glasses: IAS officers in trouble for wearing sunglasses while meeting the PM
17 May 2015 8:10 AM IST
A notice issued on May 9 for breaking protocol while meeting Prime Minister
Too hot to handle? IAS officer Amit Kataria was wearing sunglasses when he met the PM
Amit Kataria, the district magistrate of Bastar and K.C. Dev Senapati, Dantewada collector, were issued a notice on May 9 for breaking protocol while meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chhattisgarh.
Their crime? In the sweltering heat, the two IAS officers weren’t wearing bandhgalas and one of them did not remove his sunglasses as they welcomed the PM. According to the notice issued by the BJP government, their conduct was in clear violation of IAS rules of dress code and protocol. “Section 3(i) of All India Services (Conduct) Rules says that every member of the Services shall at all times maintain absolute integrity and devotion to duty and shall do nothing which is unbecoming of a member of the service. The act (wearing sunglasses) is in violation of the Section 3(i) of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968,” the notice read.
“There have been many occasions when I had worn a bandhgala in 420C heat. According to protocol, officers are required to dress in a certain dignified manner,” says IAS officer Atri Bhattacharya, from the 1989 batch. He, however, points out that the rules for dressing are quite archaic. “Gentlemen would only wear bandhgalas and women only sarees. So 20 years ago, the guidelines were very specific for us in the academy. But I do feel this incident has been blown out of proportion. In fact, there were so many senior officers at the gathering, any one of them could have asked Kataria or Senapati to change before the PM arrived,” says Atri, who also admits that he sometimes wears sleeveless Nehru jackets when attending Gandhi Jayanti or Independence Day parades. “Well, it gets very hot, so rather than wearing a suit and a tie, I prefer to wear this combination.”
“I strongly believe that there must be a dress code for all the officers of the All India Services cadre when they attend the protocol duties during the visit of VVIPs holding Constitutional authority. Dress code elevates our decency and decorum. It also helps the VVIP to identify the officers uniformly all over India during their visits. Officials should not wear stylish hats or sunglasses while receiving VVIPs because eye-to-eye contact matters most. And also our attire indicates our attitude and at no point of time the visiting VVIP should feel belittled by our attire. That is why, uniform dress code is must for All India Services officers. Having said that, the matter (about two IAS officers) has been blown a bit out of proportion,” says C. Partha Sarathi, IAS, A.P.C and secretary, Agril, Government of Telangana.
While the “dress debacle” of the two IAS officers continues to trend on social media and among political fraternities, one will have to wait for PM Narendra Modi’s reaction, who is known for being uber cool and reportedly addressed Amit Kataria as: “Mr Dabangg collector, how are you?” during their interaction.
( Source : dc )
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