BAK president S F Rajule informed, "We have had a series of meetings with District Judge P K Kakde and the registrar of the Bombay High Court but to no avail." BAK representatives last met with the HC registrar in January. "Since then nobody has bothered to even revert to us."

Court III hears all criminal cases and the petty cases filed under Shops & Establishments Act, Excise and Motor Vehicles Act from Dombivli and the entire rural area under Zone III of the Thane police commissionerate. "Since there is no judge all that happens is that the cases keep getting new dates," pointed out Rajule.

Sandhya Karnik, a resident of Nala Sopara, wonders when her case will come up for hearing. Her case has been dragging on since February 1998 and shehas been trudging over 70 kms to the Kalyan court with her two-year-old son in tow whenever a fresh date is announced. Since there is no space left inside the cramped court room with bundles of case papers taking up a better part of the limited floor space she squats in the open lawns under the scorching summer sun. "I wonder if the final judgement will be worth all this," she remarked.

Every month over 300 cases keep piling up pending hearing. During a visit to the court early this week this reporter noticed 96 cases listed on the chart for hearing. "This puts both the people involved in the case and the advocates to great inconvenience since they have to appear on the date given failing which a warrant can be issued against them," Rajule pointed out.

The BAK chief wondered why the high court and the district court have not taken any efforts to make the appointment at Kalyan. "If they want they can transfer someone from Ulhasnagar," he said. At Ulhasnagar (Zone-IV) seven courts with seven judges cater toseven police stations. In contrast, at Kalyan-Dombivli (Zone III) there is just one court with eight police stations.

Last month, the high court gave JMFC T B Jadhav, the presiding officer at Kalyan railway court, additional charge of Court III. "That has not helped one bit as he is unable to spend as much time in this court as the railway court," pointed out Rajule. "A full-time judge should be appointed here," he added.