Olympic medalist wrestler Bajrang Punia is not the first person to return his Padma award in protest.
In the last few years many people have returned their Padma awards. However, like others, Bajrang Punia will also remain in the list of award winners, because there is no provision to return this respected award.
TOI, in a report, quoted an official as saying, “The awardee can announce his decision to return the award for any reason, but there is no such rule in the Padma awards. Cancellation of awards can be permitted only by the President without assigning any reason.”
The official further said, ‘The name of the awardee remains in the register of Padma awardees maintained under the instructions of the President until his award is cancelled.’
There is no history of cancellation of Padma awards. “The awards are given only after verification of the character of the individuals by the investigating agencies of the country,” the then minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju had told the Rajya Sabha in 2018.
As per normal practice the willingness of the person proposed to be honored with the Padma Awards is ascertained informally before the announcement of the awards. Many people have already refused to accept the award.
After a person has been decorated with the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan or Padmashree, his name is published in the Gazette of India and a register of such people is maintained.
“Even if the awardees later come forward voluntarily to return the Padma awards, their names are not removed from the gazette or the register of awardees,” the official said.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and former Union Minister SS Dhindsa were also among those who announced the return of Padma awards.
He wrote a letter to the President in 2020 saying that he was returning his awards in solidarity with the farmers protesting against the three agricultural laws. However, the names of Badal and Dhindsa still figure in the list of Padma award winners.