Kerala police's move to supply uniforms of same shade to all the personnel in the force as part of a proposed uniform dress code has drawn flak from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for poor quality of material procured for the same.

According to a Manorama report, the BIS in its report stated that the garment did not conform to the standard of quality specified by it. The report stated that the material was unsuitable for Kerala's tropical climate as it would stimulate increased sweating.

When samples of this fabric was tested by the Kerala Textile Corporation (KTC) it was revealed that the cotton-polyester blend contained 79% polyester and 21% cotton. The KTC which was reportedly asked to conduct quality assessment tests on 19 categories, did so on 7 according to media reports.

Allegations of corruption emerged after the fabric was asked to be distributed to all police canteens. It was found that only one manufacturer had conformed to the fabric quality specifications.

The project worth Rs 11 crore had run into a controversy earlier with allegations of corruption in the procurement of the fabric from one vendor.

BIS recommends a blend of 67:33 for fabric suited for hot and humid conditions and uniforms worn by other police forces in the country conform to this standards.

The Kerala police had reportedly not asked for a quality check to be done on the fabric by the BIS following the directive by the state police chief to make all uniforms the same colour.