Planning to visit the district court in Gurgaon? You’d better be careful with the colour of the attire you are going to throw on.
The District Bar Association of Gurugram recently passed a resolution restricting non-advocates from wearing white shirts and black pants, the prescribed attire for enrolled advocates, on the district court premises.
The decision seeks to address concerns over misidentification and aims to uphold the professional decorum of the legal fraternity, the bar association stated in its resolution on June 5.
The resolution noted that “a number of individuals who are not enrolled advocates or recognised law interns are frequently seen on the District Court premises wearing attire identical or similar to the prescribed professional dress of advocates, namely white shirts and black pants.” It has caused “confusion, misidentification, and in some cases, resulted in disruption to the decorum and discipline of court proceedings”, the resolution noted.
Outlining strict guidelines, the resolution stated that “only enrolled advocates and bona fide law interns duly authorised and registered with advocates” will be allowed to wear what is considered lawyer’s attire.
“No other individual, including clerks, touts, litigants, or members of the general public, shall be allowed to wear white shirts and black pants in a manner resembling advocate attire,” it added.
To ensure compliance, the Bar Association will coordinate with court administration and security staff. Violators may face a fine of Rs 5,000 and further action, it said.
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The resolution emphasises the bar body’s intent “to preserve the identity, dignity, and discipline of the legal profession, and ensure that the trust and privileges associated with the advocate’s uniform are not misused.”
Speaking with The Indian Express, the association’s secretary, Rahul Dhankar, said the move was aimed at preventing touts from duping the litigants.
“Even today (Monday), many alleged touts wearing (black) surgical coats were let off with a warning. Earlier this week, two had entered a courtroom pretending to be lawyers. We had been getting several such complaints. Our aim is to help people not get trapped by them,” Dhankar added.
When asked whether the association had the power to impose and collect fines, and pass a resolution on clothes, he said, “We will do whatever is needed to be done to help innocent litigants. As for fines, they will go to welfare funds, and (for everything) we will take necessary permissions from the judiciary as well as the police, because impersonation is a serious offence. The court staff is with us; we will speak and coordinate with them.”
