Today the Supreme Court of India issued a notification announcing a new dress code for the lawyers for the time the Coronavirus pandemics remains a threat in the country. The apex court has said that lawyers appearing for cases through video conferencing will not wear the coats and gowns which are the normal uniform of advocates. The notification said that the advocates may wear “plain white-shirt/white-salwar-kameez/ white saree, 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 Supreme Court notification came just hours after the CJI had said that a new dress code will be issued to be followed during the Coronavirus pandemic as coats and gowns increase the chance of catching the virus.
While holding a court hearing through video conference, the Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde had said that the judges and the lawyers should not wear coats and gowns the during the epidemic as the coats and gowns are easier to catch the virus.
He said this while holding the video conference in a case in which arguments were being made by senior advocate Kapil Sibal. He was sharing a bench with Indu Malhotra and Hrishikesh Roy.
The CJI informed that the Supreme court may soon come up with a dress code for lawyers and the judges. The judges were not wearing coat and gown during the video conference. After the comments of CJI, lawyers immediately started attending hearings through video conference without the familiar black coats.
The Chief Justice of India observed in view of the fact that the supreme court has been holding courts through video conferencing from March 25 due to nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus. The Apex court had also barred the entry of advocates and other staff in the high-security zone on the basis of proximity cards until further order.
Earlier, the Supreme court stated that the judges may come to the courtroom as a pilot project from next week to hold court proceedings through video conference.