S. K. MOOKHERJEE, J. ( 1 ) THE writ application out of which the present appeal arises has a chequred career inasmuch as the petitioners in the writ and/or their predecessor-in-interest had to travel to this court more than twice for adjudication of their right to retention of landed properties in terms of the provisions of West Bengal Land Reforms Act (hereinafter referred to as the said Act ). Suffice it to note, for the present purpose, that the entitlement of the appellants was found to be 13. 60 acres of land and the remaining land was directed to be vest. In so determining the ceiling, the Revenue Officer excluded the daughters, as the daughters got married on the date the determination was made, and included the daughter lands measuring 3. 20 acres in the land of the petitioners/appellants 2 to 10. Out of total lands of 21. 77 acres, the balance land of 8. 17 acres had been declared as vested. On appeal, the statutory Appellate Authority declined to interfere with the order of the Revenue Officer and affirmed the same. ( 2 ) IN the context of the aforesaid facts, a writ application was moved before this court, challenging the order of the Appellate Authority. The said writ application had been disposed of by a learned single Judge, inter alia, directing submission of 7aa Form by the present appellants and consideration thereof in accordance with law. The said order has been assailed in the present appeal by the writ petitioners. ( 3 ) WE have heard Mr. Bhuniya, on behalf of the appellants, and Mr. Dasgupta, on behalf of the State respondents. Both the learned counsels have made detailed submissions in support of their respective contentions and such submissions have been very carefully considered by us. It appears, upon consideration of such submissions, that the controversy in the present appeal, hovers round the statute ascribed to the Deity in the private debuttar by the legislature in the perspective of the provisions of West Bengal Land Reforms Act and in particular Chapter IIB thereof, which came into operation with effect from 15th of February, 1971, and secondly, the question as to flexibility or alterability of the ceiling, determined under the provisions of the said Act. It is admitted that the debuttar is a private one and that the daughters of the appellant No. 2 were married subsequent to 15th of February, 1971, to be specific, in 1975 and 1977. ( 4 ) SECTION 2 (10) defines raiyat as a person or an institution holding land for any purpose whatsoever. Section 14k, clause (a) defines ceiling area as the extent of land, which raiyat shall be entitled to own; clause (c) defines family in relation to a raiyat and such family, inter alia, is made to include raiyat, unmarried daughter, adult son, but does not include any juristic person or any institution. Section 14l lays down that on and from the commencement of the provisions of Chapter IIB, no raiyat shall be entitled to own, in the aggregate, land in excess of the ceiling area applicable to him under section 14m. Section 14m lays down the area, which will constitute a ceiling area, and the basis of its calculation and clauses (a) to (d) thereof relate to single raiyat and raiyat having family consisting of not less then two members as also of more than five members; clause (e) appears to be the residuary clause, intended to govern cases of raiyats, who do not fall within the classification in clauses (a) to (d ). A Deity or a religious endowment, being a raiyat in terms of section 2 (10), the appellant No. 1, but for sub-section (5) of section 14m of the said Act, could have claimed to be entitled on its own, to hold 7 standard hectares land in terms of clause (e) aforesaid but because of the provisions of section 14m (5), the holding of appellant No. 1, shall have to be deemed to be holding of its author and shall constitute a part of ceiling retainable by such author as a raiyat. ( 5 ) SUB-SECTION (5) of section 14m requires to be construed in this particular case and it is necessary to quote the said sub-section (5) here: "the lands owned by a trust or endowment, other than that of a public nature, shall be deemed to be lands owned by the author of the trust or endowment and such author shall be deemed to be a raiyat under this Act to the extent of his share in the said lands, and the share of such author in the said lands shall be taken into account for calculating the area of lands owned and retainable by such author of the trust or endowment, and for determining his ceiling area for the purposes of this Chapter. " explanation.-The expression 'author of trust or endowment' shall include the successor-in-interest of the author of such trust or endowment. ( 6 ) IT cannot be contended that the said sub-section (5) requires the Deity to be considered as a member of the family of the raiyat but it purports to make the author of the trust a raiyat, whose contribution in constituting Deity's property becomes subject to the maximum limit of his ceiling in terms of aforesaid clause (e ). The deemed entity of raiyat with regard to the property of the Deity renders clauses (a) to (d) of section 14m (1) inapplicable to him. In other words, whatever be the share of the author of the trust in the Deity's total land holding, the maximum extent of his ownership including Deity's property would not exceed 7 standard hectares in terms of the said clause (e ). The correctness of this construction will be confirmed by the language of sub-section (6) of section 14m eliminating any discriminatory treatment as regards holding between a public and a private religious institution. ( 7 ) THE other question about flexibility of the ceiling must have to be answered in the negative because with the coming into operation of section 14l the raiyat becomes entitled to own ceiling area and the rest of the land, which has previously owned by him, remains in his possession as on occupier attaching a liability for payment of compensation for such occupation and use in terms of section 14m, which, however, stood amended with effect from 29th of September, 1980. With regard to such excess land after amendment, the raiyat can be said to be a licensee without occupation charges. The marriages of the daughters subsequent to the cut off date i. e. 15. 2. 1971 cannot call for an alteration of the ceiling and such alteration cannot be said to have been intended by the legislature as otherwise the terms of section 14y of the said Act which refers to increase in ceiling due to transfer, inheritance or otherwise after commencement of the provisions of Chapter IIB would have specifically included the reduction due to daughter's marriage; the terms 'otherwise' must be construed ejusdem generis, and, secondly, the cut off date would otherwise be unmeaning and irrelevant. ( 8 ) FOR the reasons aforesaid, we allow the appeal, set aside the order of the learned single Judge. The writ application also is allowed and a writ of certiorari is issued, quashing the order passed by the statutory Appellate Authority, which was challenged before the learned trial Judge as also the order of the Revenue Officer, which was affirmed by the said statutory Appellate Authority. A writ a mandamus is issued, directing the respondents or any of them duly authorised to consider afresh. The cases of the appellants and fix up the ceiling limit of their holding in accordance with law and on the lines of the observations and directions issued by us in the following part of this judgment. We feel it necessary to clarify that the determination of the ceiling, in compliance with the aforesaid direction of ours, must include a determination as to whether the lands are irrigated or not. D. P. Sarkar-II, J.-I agree. Later : if an urgent xerox certified copy of this judgment is applied for by any of the parties, the Department is directed to deliver the same within two weeks from the date of deposit of requisite stamps and folios. Appeal allowed