A Delhi court on Saturday imposed a fine of Rs.10,000 on Union Minister for Transport Nitin Gadkari for not filing an affidavit in a defamation case within the stipulated time.
The court had in the last hearing directed him to file the affidavit three days before the next of hearing, December 20, and give a copy to counsel for AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, against whom Mr. Gadkari has filed the defamation case.
Though counsel for Mr. Gadkari claimed that a copy of the affidavit was supplied to counsel for Mr. Kejriwal on December 18 but the latter’s counsel said that it was made available to him only on Saturday.
Slapping Mr. Gadkari with the fine, the Metropolitan Magistrate said that he had not complied with the court’s order to file the affidavit three days before the next date of hearing.
The case is scheduled for post-summoning evidence. The court later gave Mr. Gadkari last opportunity for leading the evidence and fixed March 21 as the date of next hearing.
Mr. Gadkari filed the case last year when Mr. Kejriwal included his name in the list of India’s most corrupt and made it public at his party’s public meeting before the last Lok Sabha elections.
