S.K. Dubey, J.

1. Aggrieved of a common award and decree dated 19-12-1986, passed by Third Additional Judge to the Court of District Judge, Morena, in Reference Cases Nos. 5/1984, 7/1984, 8/1984, 9/1984, 10/1984, 12/1984, 13/1984, 14/1984, 15/1984, 17/1984, 18/1984, 19/1984, 20/1984, 22/1984, 23/1984, 24/1984, 25/1984, 26/1984, 27/1984, 28/1984, 29/1984, 30/1984, 31/1984, the M. P. Grih Nirman Mandal, Bhopal (for short 'appellant No. 1'), has preferred separate appeals, being Miscellaneous Appeals Nos. 46/1984, 45/1984, 39/1984, 104/1987, 51/1987, 53/1987, 54/1987, 55/1987, 52/1987, 56/1987, 80/1987, 32/1987, 34/1987, 35/1987, 36/1987, 38/1987, 40/1987, 41/1987, 42/1987, 43/1987, 44/1987, 47/1987, 48/1987, 49/1987 50/1987 and 96/1987, under section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, as amended (for short, the 'Act'). The respondents/land owners whose lands were acquired for appellant No. 1, have also filed their cross-objections under Order 41, Rule 22, Civil Procedure Code, for enhancement of compensation, solatium and interest in accordance with the amendments made in sections 23 and 28 of the Act by Amendment Act No. 68 of 1984. As a common award was passed and common submissions were made by learned counsel for the respective parties, all these appeals are disposed of by this judgment.

2. Material facts leading to these appeals are: A Notification under section 4(1) of the Act was issued on 16-6-1979 by the State Government for acquisition of land comprising 14.47 hectares in village Jora Khurd in the District of Morena for public purpose, that is, for providing residential accommodation to the general public on hire-purchase scheme prepared by appellant No. 1. This land was acquired by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, appellant No. 2, for appellant No. 1. A Notification under section 6 was issued on 19-3-1981. These Notifications were challenged by owners of the land in a writ petition (M. P. No. 134/1981), which was ultimately dismissed. According to the land owners, the possession was taken on 19-8-1981, but this Court observed in the writ petition that the possession so taken was not legal, hence, formal possession was again taken on 20-4-1983. The Collector vide award dated 7-10-1983 awarded Rs. 8,000/- per Bigha of land as compensation. The land owners applied for a Reference under section 18 of the Act. After recording evidence led by the parties, the Additional District Judge, vide impugned award dated 19-12-1986 enhanced the compensation from Rs. 8,000/- to Rs. 54,000/- per Bigha in all cases, except five cases i.e. Reference Cases Nos. 12/1984, 10/1984, 21/1984, 25/1984 and 28/1984, in which the compensation was enhanced from Rs. 8,000/- to Rs. 1,08,000/- per Bigha.

3. The appellant No. 1 preferred these appeals impleading the State of Madhya Pradesh through Collector, Morena, as respondent. This Court, on 7-5-1987, while hearing on admission of the appeals allowed the application of appellant No. 1 and granted leave to prefer the appeals. On 29-8-1988 a conditional order was passed on an application of appellant No. 1 dated 19-7-1988, allowing transposition of the State of M. P. from the array of respondent to appellant No. 2. As the prayer of transposition was opposed, the right of the respondents was reserved to object about the transposition at the time of hearing of the appeals.

4. A preliminary objection was raised by the land owners/respondents that the appeals are incompetent, as in view of the provisions of section 50(2) of the Act, a local authority or a company concerned cannot file an appeal and, as the appeals were incompetent, transposition of the State of M. P. as appellant No. 2 beyond the period of limitation for filing an appeal will not make the appeals competent. Learned counsel Sarvashri Swamisaran, J. P. Sharma and K. K. Lahoti, for the land owners, appearing in different appeals, placed reliance on Santosh Kumar v. Central Warehousing Corporation AIR 1986 SC 1164; a Single Bench dec