The Additional District Judge in Assam can issue probate, functioning as a division court of the District Judge; procedural compliance in probate proceedings is essential.

1. This appeal is directed against the judgment and decree passed by the learned Additional District Judge, L.A.D., Gauhati.

2. The plaintiff's case is that Anandiram Choudhuri who died a natural death on 18-4-1963 at village Jiakur in Mouza Dakhin Sarubongshar, P. S. Chhaygaon within the jurisdiction of the District Judge, L.A.D. at Gauhati, left a will dated 27-3-63. No executor was appointed by the said will and the plaintiff was the only legatee entitled to the Letters of Administration under it. He filed an application in the Court of the Subordinate Judge No. 1, L.A.D., Gauhati, praying for letters of administration. Notices were served on the relatives of the deceased and defendants Nos. 1, 2 and 3 filed an objection to the issue of letters of administration. The matter being contentious, the Subordinate Judge returned the petition for filing it in proper Court. Accordingly the plaintiff filed the petition before the District Judge impleading the three objectors as well as Mustt. Pahibala Choudhury, step mother of the deceased, as defendants. The petition before the District Judge was treated as a plaint and numbered as Probate Title Suit No. 39 of 1963. The learned District Judge transferred the suit to the Additional District Judge, Gauhati, on 23-11-1964, for favour of disposal and it was renumbered as Probate Title Suit No. 3/65.

3. Defendants 1, 2 and 3 filed a joint written statement and contested the suit. They alleged that the testator did not execute the will, and it was forged in collusion with the writer of the will. During the pendency of the suit, defendant No. 3 Nakul Chandra Choudhuri died and his legal heirs were substituted. The minor legal heirs were represented by their mother Srimati Harimati Chaudhury.

4. The following issues were framed on the pleadings of the parties :
1. Whether the probate suit is maintainable in the present form?
2. Whether the will in question was at all executed by late Anandi Choudhuri and if executed whether it was validly executed?
3. Whether the will in question as well as the signature thereon was forged?
4. Whether the petitioner (plaintiff) is entitled to a probate as prayed for?
5. To what relief, if any, are the parties entitled?

5. Evidence was adduced by both the parties and the learned Additional District Judge, on a consideration of the evidence on record, decreed the suit on contest and directed the issue of letters of administration to the plaintiff with a copy of the will annexed, holding that the will was a genuine one and the signature in the will was that of the testator.

6. Dr. Medhi, the learned counsel appearing for the Appellants, submitted that the Additional District Judge, L.A.D., Gauhati had no jurisdiction to entertain and decide the instant suit. The learned counsel submitted that under S.270 of the Indian Succession Act, probate of the will or letters of administration to the estate of the deceased person might be granted by the District Judge only and not by the Additional District Judge.

7. S.270 of the Succession Act reads as follows: -
"Probate of the will or letters of administration to the estate of a deceased person may be granted by a District Judge under the seal of his Court, if it appears by a petition, verified as hereinafter provided, of the person applying for the same that the testator or intestate, as the case may be, at the time of his decease had a fixed place of abode, or any property, moveable or immoveable, within the jurisdiction of the