MUMBAI, Aug. 22 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to allow bakery owners more time to switch from conventional coal-based fuel to cleaner fuels, stating that those who had not met the July 8 deadline set by the court would have to shut. Observing that individual hardship cannot override the larger public interest to the right to a clean environment, the court ordered the closure of bakeries that fail to comply with the earlier orders. A division bench of Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Aarti Sathe delivered the order while dismissing a plea filed by 12 bakery owners, who had sought an extension of the deadline. The application had also sought orders restraining the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from taking action against 311 bakeries that had not transitioned to cleaner fuels by July 8. The court noted that despite receiving notices from the civic body in January to comply with the deadline, the applicants had moved the court only in June. "If you had difficulty, you should have moved the court in January itself to modify the order. We cannot entertain your application now," the court said. Subsequent to a high court order of January 9, the BMC had issued notices to all city bakeries using coal or wood, and ordered them to shift to electric ovens or cleaner fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or piped natural gas (PNG). It set a July 8 deadline. However, around 311 bakeries continue to use conventional fuels. The Bombay Bakers' Association (BBA) claimed that many bakeries had applied for PNG connections from Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL). However, the BMC had not given permission to dig up newly laid concrete roads to lay gas pipelines. The civic body said that digging was difficult during the rains. The bakeries contended that the transition to cleaner fuels is a complex process, requiring the existing brick-and-stone oven structure to be demolished before new ovens can be installed. The association informed that court, "If we shut down and MGL fails to provide pipeline supply, we will have to shut down the bakeries and there will be a shortage of bread in the city," the application said. A BMC official had earlier said that 46 of the 573 operational bakeries had made the switch, 28 were mid-transition, and 311 yet to make the switch. The civic official pegged the cost of making the switch to Rs.10-Rs.20 lakh, and said that bakeries had been informed of schemes, subsidies, and loans at their disposal....