Heatwave: Wearing of advocates' gown exempted at Calcutta High Court

Kolkata: As the summer heat refuses to abate with day temperatures in the city hovering around 40 degrees Celsius, wearing of advocates' gown by lawyers has been exempted at the Calcutta High Court by a direction of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam.

The Met department has forecast that heatwave or hot and discomforting weather conditions in Kolkata and its surrounding districts will continue for at least the next five days.

A high court notification said that upon consideration of the ongoing inclement weather combined with heatwave, the Chief Justice has directed an exemption on wearing of advocates' gown till the end of the summer vacation to give relief to the lawyers.

"Taking note of the weather, wearing of Advocates' gown is exempted till the Court reopens after Summer Vacation on June 10," the notification said.

Summer vacation at the Calcutta High Court will commence from May 19.

Such exemption was allowed by the Chief Justice during the peak summer weeks last year also, Uday Shankar Chatterjee, a lawyer practising at the high court, said.