Mumbai, Oct. 28 -- The Bombay High Court has set aside an order of the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) directing the closure of a ready mix concrete (RMC) plant, saying the decision was "clearly high-handed, arbitrary and in flagrant violation of fundamental principles of natural justice". The MBMC show cause notice was issued on September 12, a day after a young boy was run over by a cement dumper truck near the RDC Concrete plant in Mira Road. Though the vehicle that had killed the boy did not belong to the RDC Concrete, the MBMC had issued a show cause notice to the firm on September 11 "without verifying facts", the company contended before the high court. The notice was issued after a 12-year-old boy died after the truck mowed him down. The local media reported that angry locals protested on the streets demanding action against RMC plants in the area and local political leaders threw their weight behind them. RDC Concrete told the court that the MBMC's notice dated September 11 was served to them on September 12. As per the notice, the RMC plant was operating in breach of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's (MPCB) notification dated November 7, 2016, which barred such plants within 200 metres of schools, colleges, hospitals and courts. RDC Concrete's plea stated that MBMC revoked their licence and sealed their plant on September 12 "without providing any effective opportunity of hearing". The company replied to the show cause notice on September 15, saying the school was not located within 200 metres of the plant. Though the MBMC heard RDC Concrete, on September 30, it once again ordered the company to cease operations and revoked its licence. The firm's lawyer told the court that the MPCB had framed separate guidelines for RMC plants in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) via a notification dated November 27, 2024, which barred RMC plants within a 500-metre radius of schools, colleges, hospitals and courts, barring in the MMR. The 2016 guidelines cited in MBMC's show cause notice to RDC Concrete did not apply to them, the lawyer said. The MBMC's advocate, however, said that the civic body's decision could not be faulted as RMC plants in densely populated areas could have "disastrous consequences" on the environment. The MBMC had issued a licence in favour of RDC Concrete's RMC plant in March 2023, following the MPCB's approval in January 2023. The licence was later renewed to allow operations of the plant until October 2027. In the order dated October 10, justice NJ Jamadar said that the time given to RDC Concrete to respond to the MBMC's show cause notice was not reasonable. The MPCB's 2016 guidelines were applicable across the state barring the MMR, where the 2024 notification was applicable, the court said. The rule making authority had exempted RMC plants in the MMR from maintaining a 500-metre buffer zone factoring in "the scarcity of land in the municipal corporation area", the court noted, and restored the plant's licence....