A magistrate's court here on Thursday slapped a fine of Rs.3,000 on former civil aviation minister Praful Patel for repeatedly seeking adjournments in a defamation case.Metropolitan Magistrate V.P. Adone imposed the fine after rejecting Patel's lawyers' plea seeking another adjournment in a defamation case filed by the former minister against ex-Air India executive director Jitender Bhargava.The defamation case matter revolves around Bhargava's controversial book entitled "The Descent of Air India" in which he had chronicled the diminution of the national carrier through certain "reckless and motivated" decisions taken between 2004-2008.In this period, Patel was the aviation minister while V. Thulasidas was the chairman of Air India. Bhargava had penned the book post-retirement.