pepper
The case in question was an institutionalized woman. Everyone learning in MTJ signed.
I personally know a case of female get refusal where the husband got a local brooklyn BD to grant him a HMR. The wife continued to refuse the get (it was deposited at the BD) even after the husband remarried. What the exact circumstances were? why did they allow him to circumvent the cherem? I can not answer.
But my thinking is, that once the marriage is deemed unsalvageable (and taking into account that the seforim pasken leniently on the cherem) then a hmr is an option.
But clearly the Rabbanut is being machmir. I would love to know their criteria. It seems apparent that the criteria is not the same across the BD spectrum.