V-C plans to ban sleeveless tops, minis on campus

If the ban is approved, nearly 60,000 girls studying in the 214 GU-affiliated colleges and post-graduate centres will have to adjust to the new dress code. Patel, known for implementing the dress code in LD Arts College, is also talking tough on the use of mobiles by college students. He said the professors will be asked to deal strictly with students totting mobiles to classrooms.

Speaking about the dress code, he said: ‘‘GU won’t be the first university to have a dress code, many reputed colleges in Mumbai have implemented the code just because these outfits distract students.’’

An official said if any student is found flouting the ban, the GU will impose a fine — starting from Rs 50 and going higher with ‘‘each violation.’’ If the student persists, the college principal will call her parents and ‘‘try to convince them.’’

But how are the students reacting? Megha Miglani, a first year student of HA Commerce College, said students won’t take the dress code seriously. ‘‘What we wear doesn’t matter, how we behave does.”

Another student of HA Commerce College, refusing to be named, said Patel was behaving ‘‘like a dictator.’’ ‘‘Now is it the Vice-Chancellor who is going to decide what we are going to wear? When our parents do not object to our wearing minis and tank tops, who’s he to decide,’’ she asked.

Patel had at the beginning of the session said 80 per cent attendance was compulsory and that the GU would ask colleges to send the roll calls to the university for verification.