Hon’ble Vikram Nath, J.—This first appeal under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the L.A. Act) read with Section 96 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908, has been preferred by the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, assailing the correctness of the award dated 19.5.1997 of the Land Acquisition Tribunal/V-Additional District and Sessions Judge, Kanpur Nagar passed in Land Acquisition Reference No. 245 of 1988, Prem Manohar v. State of U.P. and another, whereby it held the claimants to be entitled to compensation @ Rs. 55,000/- per bigha and in addition thereto 12% additional amount from 23.6.1984, being the date of publication of the notification, under Section 4(1) of the L.A. Act, till 27.8.1984, being the date of taking possession, and 30% solatium. Further it held that the claimants would not be entitled to interest on the 12% additional amount and 30% solatium. Tribunal further directed that the claimants would be entitled to the interest @ 9% for a period of one year from the date of taking possession i.e. 27.8.1984 and further 15% interest from 27.8.1985 till the date of payment.

2. For purposes of construction of a 400 KV Power Plant by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in District Kanpur Nagar, 143.34 acres land was sought to be acquired. The provision of Section 17 (1) of the L.A. Act were made applicable. Notification under Section 4(1) of the L.A. Act was published in the official gazette on 23.6.1984. Thereafter the notification under Section 6(1) of the L.A. Act was published in the gazette on 23.7.1984. Out of the total land sought to acquired, possession over 18.21 acres of land was taken on 27.8.1984 and with regard to the remaining 125.13 acres land the possession was taken on 4.4.1985. The Special Land Acquisition Officer after considering the material on record gave the award dated 25.11.1985 and allowed compensation for the land at Rs. 9,333/- per bigha.

3. The claimants preferred reference under Section 18 of the L.A. Act. The reference Court allowed the reference and determined the rate of the land to be Rs. 55,000/- per bigha by the impugned award dated 19.5.1997. The reference Court relied upon the sale-deed (Ex. 1) which is dated 24.7.1984 whereby 12 biswas land of Plot No. 693 and 694 situate in Village Sachendi has been sold for Rs. 48,000/- According to the sale-deed a bigha would value Rs. 80,000/-. The reference Court reduced 10% from the value per bigha on account of the fact that the sale-deed was subsequent (about 1 month later) from the date of the notification under Section 4(1) of the L.A. Act. It further reduced the value by 20% on the ground of smallness of the area which would bring down the value to Rs. 56,000/- per bigha and for the above deductions the reference Court after rounding off determined the market value of the land acquired to be Rs. 55,000/- per bigha.

4. By means of this appeal the challenge is to the compensation awarded by the reference Court as being highly excessive.

5. We have heard Sri Arvind Verma, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mrs. Preetika Dwivedi, Sri Prashant Mishra and Sri S.I. Ibrahim, Advocates appearing for the appellant and Sri H.N. Singh, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Sri Laxmikant Singh, Advocate, appearing for the respondents.

6. We have also perused the material on record.

7. Before reference Court there were five sale-deeds, three (Ex.Ka-1, Ka-2, Ka-3) filed by the State/appellant Power Grid Corporation and two sale-deeds by the claimants (Ex.1 & 2). In addition to the above the claimants had also filed certified copy of the award dated 28.8.1987 in L.A. Reference No. 53 of 1983 in reference proceedings (Ex.3) relating to acquisition for NTPC in village Gangaganj Panki, district Kanpur Nagar whereby the reference Court had determined the compensation of the land @ Rs. 45 per sq. yard.