WA 189/2011 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR JUSTICE A. K. GOEL THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE U. BHUYAN (Goel,J.) This order will dispose of Writ Appeal No.149 of 2011 and Writ Appeal No .189 of 2011 as it has been stated by learned counsel for the parties that both the appeals involve common question and both the appeals relate to same issue i. e. award of contract for fishery in pursuance of tender notice dated 25.11.2010 proposing to award contract of fishery for seven years from 22.11.2010 to 21.11. 2017 for South Salmara Circle of Dhubri District. Writ Appeal No.149 of 2011 arisees from WP(C) No.1314 of 2011 filed by r espondent No.4 for a direction to award contract of fishery to it as it was the highest bidder and the Tender Committee as well as the departmental Commissioner and Secretary had approved its bid. The Minister wrongly interfered with the sa id approval on the ground that neighbourhood certificate submitted by it was not as per the tender conditions, it having not mentioned the distance of the Socie ty from the fishery. The writ petition of the petitioner was opposed with the plea that the t ender conditions specifically required mentioning of the distance of the tendere r from the place of fishing in the certificate. Learned Single Judge relying upon the Division Bench judgment of this Co urt in Brahmaputra Part-II Mach Mahal Samabai Samity Ltd. vs. State of Assam and ors., reported in 2003 (1) GLT 155, defining the expression ’neighbourhood’ hel d that once neighbourhood certificate was produced, it was not necessary to ment ion the distance of the location of the tenderer from the place of fishing. It w as also held that distance was not conclusive for giving of contract. The findin g recorded by the learned Single Judge is as under : 16. The aforesaid view of the Minister is not tenable. The documents annexed alongwith the tender were accepted by all the authorities upto the stage of Com missioner and Secretary in the jurisdictional department. Nowhere it was mention ed that the neighbourhood certificate submitted by the highest bidder was not as per the NIT. In NIT clause as has been noted above, there is no requirement of submission of certificate indicating the distance of Co-operative Society from t he fishery. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that as per para 4(k) of the t ender conditions distance of the location of the tenderer from the place of fish ing was required to be given and this requirement has not been taken into accoun t by the learned Single Judge. He, however, fairly stated that the concerned aut hority may now go into this issue and the writ petitioner may now furnish the ce rtificate showing the distance and on that basis a fresh decision may be taken i n the matter. Learned counsel for the writ petitioner has informed the Court tha t in pursuance of decision of learned Single Judge, contract has already been aw arded to it. While we are in agreement with the view taken by the learned Single Judge to the effect that the distance may not be conclusive for taking decision for awarding the contract, but in view of specific tender conditions requiring distance to b e indicated, such requirement has to be complied with even in absence of such re quirement in the Rules. In this view of the matter, learned Single Judge was not justified in treating the writ petitioner eligible without compliance of the sa id condition. However, in the facts of the present case and particularly in view of statement on behalf of the appellant, the respondent-writ petitioner could b e given permission to comply with the condition, on which a fresh decision may b e required to be taken. Accordingly, we modify the impugned order and direct that the concerned authority may take a fresh decision in the matter within one month from the date of receipt of a copy of this order after taking into account the appropriate ce rtificate, which may be furnished by the writ petitioner. The contract already a warded to the writ petitioner will abide by such fresh decision. The appeals stand disposed of accordingly.