Introduction: Paper is one of the organic waste posing major environmentaland disposal problems. Cellulose is the major constituent of paper and cellulase being the key enzyme involved in the degradation of paper is of due importance. 

Aim: In this view, the effect of vermicomposting paper waste is dealt in the present study with cellulase activity and its quest of origin being observed with prime significance. 

Materials and Methods: The experiments were conducted in triplicates for each treatment taken, (T1) – newspaper waste and cow dung, (T2) – written paper and cow dung. The epigeic earthworm species, Eisenia foetida is used in the study. The earthworms were bred in both the treatments and their controls were devoid of worms.This setup was monitored over a period of 60 days. 

Results and Conclusion: The study reveals a peak increase in the cellulase activity on the 45th day of the experimental period in T1. Further, the Eisenia foetida gut isolate on the 60th day was found to be of the Bacillus genera in both the treatments. The phylogenetic analysis of the retrieved cellulase gene of Eisenia foetida, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus pumilus disclosed a close relation of Bacillus pumilus to Eisenia foetida for cellulase gene leading to an inference of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) that would have occurred between the prokaryote’s (Bacteria) and eukaryote’s (Earthworm) genome during the course of evolution. Thus, vermicomposting using Eisenia foetida can be regarded as an alternative methodof degrading the cellulosic paper waste.