S.C. Agrawal, J. - (1.) Leave granted in SLP (C) No. 6468/80.
(2.) These appeals raise a common question involving the interpretation of S. 9(2)(a) of the Pondicherry Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The question is : whether S. 9(2) (a, which provides that for the purpose of calculating, after the appointed day, the ceiling area of a family holding land on the appointed day in excess of 6 standard hectares, the authorised officer shall take into account only those members of that family who are alive on the notified date, requires that in cases where on the appointed day one of the members of the family is an unmarried daughter or a minor son and the said unmarried daughter gets married or the minor son attains majority after the appointed day and before the notified date, the share of the said daughter or son in the family holding should be excluded for the purpose of fixing the ceiling area of the family.
(3.) The Act has been enacted to provide for the fixation of ceiling on agricultural land holdings and for certain other matters connected therewith in the regions of Pondicherry and Karaikal. Under sub-sec. (4) of Sec. 2, the expression "appointed day" has been defined to mean the 24th day of January, 1971. The expression "family" has been defined in sub-sec. (10) of S. 2 as under : " family, in relation to a person, means the person, the wife or husband, as the case may be, of such person and his or her minor sons and unmarried daughters." ;