The court was set up with an objective to provide speedy justice at the doorstep of villagers, for which four courts were set up in Hoshiarpur district at Hajipur, Talwara, Mukerian and Jandwal. A civil judge was assigned exclusively for the mobile courts.

When asked what prompted the DBA to go on a strike, DBA president B.S. Gill said, “Though the mobile courts were established with the objective of providing speedy and cheap justice, its working is exactly the opposite of this exalted goal.”

A lawyer speaking on the condition of anonymity said, “There are three civil judges in the civil courts in Dasuya. The lawyers who have hearings in the mobile courts have other cases scheduled in the two other courts in Dasuya as well. When the lawyers go to the mobile courts, their work in the other two civil courts and also the courts of SDM, Dasuya and Mukerian suffers. Moreover, when a lawyer has a case scheduled at a mobile court, his entire day is spent there, as a result of which they are compelled to ask clients for fuel and extra fee to compensate for the loss of work in Dasuya.”

Gill added that even basic facilities like stamp papers, court fee stamps and typists are not available in mobile courts, for which clients have to come to Dasuya a day before the hearing in mobile courts.

Citing an example of inconvenience faced by the lawyers, Gill said, “Not all lawyers have their own vehicles. If a lawyer has to reach Jandwal, he has to take a bus from Dasuya to Mukerian, then another bus from Mukerian to Bhangala, and then a tempo or a 2.5 km walk from Bhangala to Jandwal since buses do not stop at Jandwal. Even the public is facing inconvenience. Terkiana and Dhanoa villages, which have been assigned to the mobile court at Jandwal, are about 20 km from Jandwal, while Dasuya is only 8 km.”