The government on Tuesday told the that there is no restriction on wearing hijab but it is subject to institutional curbs and discipline.
Countering the petitioner from Udupi district, who challenged the ban on hijab on campuses, Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi said the right to wear the headscarf falls under the category of 19(1)(A) and notArticle 25as has been argued by the petitioners.
The Preamble of theKarnataka Education Actprovides for this with a view to maintain a secular perspective, he said. There is institutional discipline. It may be hospitals, schools, military establishments, he added.
The AG said the right to grow a beard in the military has been negated on the ground that institutional discipline bars exhibition of individual choices.
According to him, under Article 19(1)(a), the right to wear the dress as an exercise of freedom of expression is contradictory as there would be persons who do not wish to wear it as well.