PIO should justify withholding of the information sought
Rajesh Madhukant, v. PIO, Hemwati Nandan Bhauguna Garhwal University
15. Whoever claims a benefit of restriction under section 8 of RTI Act has a duty to substantiate or justify withholding of the information sought, which was clearly stated in section 19(5): “In any appeal proceedings, the onus to prove that a denial of a request was justified shall be on the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, who denied the request.”
CIC/CC/A/2014/000666 decided on 14-12-2016