The legal tribunals, called Food Safety Special Courts, would have powers to indict food processors in the most serious of cases relating to grievous injury or death of consumers, according to reports published in the Indian media.

The draft regulation, brought forward under provisions laid down in the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, has proposed that state governments will be given the authority to prosecute processors if the offence, as laid down in the food safety act, carried a jail term of more than three years.

The plan said the Chief Justice of the High Court could establish as many such courts as was necessary. However, state bodies would be responsible for deciding the on the number and nature of officials in the courts as well as their location.