The judicial reprimand follows comprehensive status reports submitted by the DPCC following field inspections across protected floodplain zones—including Chak Chilla village near Mayur Nature Park, areas beneath the DND Flyway, and sections near New Friends Colony. While permanent concrete dairy structures were previously dismantled by land-owning agencies, inspectors documented widespread adaptation by operators, who continue to maintain temporary cattle sheds, localized fodder reserves, and uncontained heaps of raw dung, alongside dozens of bovine animals grazing in the open grasslands.

Inter-agency friction among Delhi’s administrative bodies has further hindered enforcement. During the proceedings, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) testified that while it has conducted repeated demolition drives in the riverbed’s “O-Zone”—where no construction is legally permitted—operators regularly return to the same sites or shift cattle under nearby flyovers. The DDA placed operational responsibility on the MCD’s Animal Husbandry Department for failing to impound the livestock, noting that formal notifications sent to municipal officials yielded no direct physical seizures.

Beyond immediate physical encroachments, the persistence of unregulated dairies poses a direct risk to the Yamuna’s fragile ecosystem. Raw bovine waste dumping severely degrades local groundwater recharge zones, increases nutrient loading in the river basin, and damages natural flood-buffer grasslands. To curb repeat violations, the NGT instructed environmental regulators to aggressively apply Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) siting guidelines, explicitly authorizing the DPCC to levy environmental compensation fines on delinquent operators.