Desire is asked before giving the award, there is no right to return it; Read the rules related to Padma Award

Recently, Olympic award winner in wrestling Bajrang Punia announced that he is going to return the Padma Award given by the Government of India. It is known that Bajrang Punia is not the first person who has not talked about returning the Padma Award given by the Government of India, even before this many winners have made such an announcement.

According to a news published in the Times of India, any award winner can return his award by giving reasons, but there is no such provision in the case of the Padma Award. The rule regarding the Padma Award is that unless there is a concrete reason, the award cannot be cancelled. This happens only if the President decides that the name of the winner should be withdrawn.

However, the award rules also mention how if the President cancels someone's award, his instructions can be cancelled.

In 2018, the then Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said in the Rajya Sabha that any person is nominated for National Awards only after examining and verifying his character by the investigating agencies of the country. Thereafter, as is customary, before releasing the names of the nominees for the award, they are asked whether they wish to receive the award or not. Although this is done informally, if the recipient declines that they do not want the award, their name is not recorded.

Once a person is awarded the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan or Padma Shri, their name is published in the Gazette of India. A register is maintained for award recipients. Even if the recipient thereafter offers to return his/her award, his/her name and award are not removed from the register.

Even before Bajrang Punia, many people have announced to return of their national awards. The most recent one in this includes the name of the former Chief Minister of Punjab. Prakash Singh Badal and former Union Minister SS Dhindsa had also announced to return of their national awards. Both of them had recently offered to return their awards in support of the farmers' movement regarding the three agricultural laws. However, the names of both these stalwarts are included in the list of Padma award winners and are written in the same golden letters in the register.

Brijbhushan Sharan Singh's associate Sanjay Singh has been appointed the head of the Wrestling Association of India (WEI), in protest against which wrestler Bajrang Punia has announced the withdrawal of his award. Not only this, he started moving towards the Prime Minister's residence located on Lok Kalyan Marg in the national capital Delhi, but in the meantime, the police stopped him. After this, to express his protest, he placed his award on the footpath near his residence and left from there.