Aastha Thakur
Published on: 01 December 2022 at 20:26 IST
The Delhi High Court put stay order over the prescribed dress code by the Shahdara Bar Association (SBA) of Karkardooma Court for law interns.
Justice Prathiba M. Singh asked the Bar Council of Delhi to hold a meeting of all bar associations in the national capital and other stakeholders to reach a consensus on what uniform law interns should wear. The court also asked BCI to join meeting.
The order was furnished on a plea filed by a second-year law student, Hardik Kapoor, challenging the impugned notice/circular issued on November 24.
The circular was released by the Bar Association of Shahdara, in order to distinguish between practising lawyers and interns. As per the circular the interns were mandate to wear white shirt, blue coat and a trouser.
The plea contends that through the circular, an arbitrary and illegal restriction was imposed on interns with regard to the uniform that they wear while working in courts. The interns were prohibited and restrained from wearing black coats and black trousers.
The bench said, “Considering the large number of interns, a uniform policy ought to be arrived at with the consent of all stakeholders. A consistent uniform should be prescribed because if different Associations prescribe different uniforms then the interns will be inconvenienced.”
The plea further claimed that the SBA stated that the interns who fail to adhere to the prescribed dress code won’t be allowed to attend the court sessions at Karkardooma.