CHENNAI: A start-up employee, wearing half trouser and t-shirt, was beaten up by employees at the chief minister’s co-working space in Chennai’s Kolathur. They took exception to his attire even though there is no rule barring the users from wearing casuals.When Dhilip Srinivasan, an IT firm employee from Perambur, along with his IT worker-friend, showed up at the co-working space on Monday morning, manager Helen Anitha stopped him saying shorts were not allowed. When he said such rules weren’t mentioned on the Greater Chennai Corporation’s website at the time of booking, she said shorts were still not permitted and that a lot of women staff use the working space.This led to an argument with the staff, and GCC assistant executive engineer Babu, along with assistant engineer of ward 69 Vijayakumar, came to the spot. When Dhilip kept arguing with the officials, asking them to show the rule book, they brought a board which read, “The guest will have to come in a pleasant manner.”

“The two officials brought in four men to forcibly pull me out of the entrance. The goondas snatched my phone, went into my gallery and deleted all the images. They never let me inside the working space and pushed me out of the compound,” Dhilip said, adding that they also abused him.When contacted, Helen Anitha told TOI that though there were no rules, the space is used by women. “We have to maintain some decorum,” she said.Assistant engineer Vijayakumar said they had to bring in some guys to throw the people out as they kept arguing. “If they had left peacefully, we wouldn’t have engaged in a brawl. We also made a verbal complaint to the Sembium police, saying that the individuals caused disruption. The police sent a constable,” he said.GCC commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said there weren’t any written dress code rules. “People must just come in a presentable manner. We will check with other private co-working spaces and think of dress code rules if required,” he said.