Only state by-laws will apply: Madras HC to a rail society

Madras High Court has brought a railway society, having several thousand railway employees as members, under the control of the state government, saying state by-laws alone would apply to it.
A division bench comprising Justices N Paul Vasanthakumar and K Ravichandrabaabu, dismissing a appeal filed by Railway Employees' Cooperative Credit Society Limited, said though the object of carrying on business by such multi-state entities such as banks and societies could be in different states, it would not confer the jurisdiction of the central government.
The matter relates to the appeal by the society which contended its activities are emendable only to the central government and that the state had no control over it.

The society filed the present appeal after a single judge dismissed the writ petition in 2010.
Dismissing the appeal, the bench pointed to the society's own case in 2001, where it had stated that neither the central nor state governments could control its affairs.
The judges pointed out that the society wanted to exist without any control when it said its board of directors elected by its general body alone had competence.