KOCHI: Only very few socially relevant complaints were reaching the Right to Information (RTI) Commission, said P.N. Vijayakumar, State Information Commissioner.

He was speaking at a meeting on the review of a year of the functioning of the Commission. Mr. Vijayakumar said the people were lethargic on the Right to Information Act.

The bureaucracy too did not respond positively to the Act. During the past one year, there was nothing laudable about the effects of the Act, he said.

Of the 400 complaints that reached the State Commission, more than 300 sought personal information. Majority of the population were not informed about the Act, Mr. Vijayakumar said.

The State Commission decided on 104 complaints. Regarding the slapping of fine for delaying information, the Commission had served show cause notices in 20 cases, he said.

The founding principles of the Act were informed citizenry, transparency, accountability and containing corruption. If the Act failed to fulfil the objectives, it would be detrimental to the democracy of the country, he said.

The meeting was organised by the Ernakulam Karayogam, Niyama Sahaya Kendram, People's Council for Social Justice and Samata Law Society as part of the observance of the `Law Day.'

K.A. Nair, M.P.R. Nair, D.B. Binu, M.R. Hariraj and M.R. Rajendran Nair and John Mathew attended the meeting.

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