Some of the bestowals of the Padma Bhushan have been refused or returned by the recipients.
Bengali theatre activist
Sisir Bhaduri (1959) was the first awardee who refused their conferment as "he felt state awards merely help create a sycophantic brigade" and "did not want to encourage the impression that the government was serious about the importance of theatre in national life."
Sitar player
Vilayat Khan declined to accept the award in 1968, stating that "the selection committees were incompetent to judge [his] music." Khan had earlier refused
Padma Shri in 1964 and later also turned down
Padma Vibhushan in 2000. Journalist
Nikhil Chakravarty rejected the award in 1990, stating that "journalists should not be identified with the establishment." Historian
Romila Thapar refused to accept the award twice, for the first time in 1992, and later again in 2005, stating that she would accept awards only "from academic institutions or those associated with my professional work." For her 2005 bestowal, Thapar sent a clarification letter to the then President
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam mentioning that she had declined to accept the award when the
Ministry of Human Resource Development had contacted her three months prior to the award announcement and had explained her reasons for not accepting the award. Journalist and civil servant
K. Subrahmanyam refused his 1999 bestowal, citing that "bureaucrats and journalists should not accept any award from the government because they are more liable to be favoured." In 2013,
playback singer S. Janaki refused to accept her award and stated that "the award has come late in her five-and-half-decade long career." The singer also mentioned that she is not against the Government and expressed happiness for the recognition, but requested the Government to "show some more consideration to the artists from the
southern parts of the country." In 2014, family members of
J. S. Verma who served as
27th Chief Justice of India refused the posthumous conferral, stating that "Verma himself would not have accepted" the honour as he "never hankered or lobbied for any acclaim, reward or favour."
Kannada novelist
K. Shivaram Karanth, who was awarded in 1968, returned his award to protest against the
Emergency declared in the country in 1975. Novelist
Khushwant Singh, who accepted the award in 1974 in the field of literature and education, returned it in 1984 as a notion of protest against the
Operation Blue Star. Singh was later awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2007. The 2010 conferment on an
Indian-American businessman
Sant Singh Chatwal, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan in the field of Public Affairs, created much controversy. Known for his association with former US President
Bill Clinton and his wife
Hillary Clinton, Chatwal pled guilty to violating the
Federal Election Campaign Act and witness tampering during the
2008 United States presidential election. He was also accused of lobbying for the award by leveraging "his contacts in the
Prime Minister's Office and
United States Congress." The Government provided clarification regarding the conferment and issued a press release which mentioned Chatwal as a "tireless advocate" of the country's interest in the United States. The statement also mentioned that "due diligence" exercise is carried out for each of the awardees and out of five
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered cases against Chatwal between 1992 and 1994, three were closed by CBI itself and in remaining two cases, Chatwal was discharged by the Court and as per the reports that were made available to the selection committee, there is nothing adverse on record against him. According to media reports, there were several cases filed or registered after April 2009 which includes three criminal complaints with
Kerala Police and four cases in
Delhi High Court and
Kerala High Court. Chatwal also served a summons in January 2010. However, the then
Union Home Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai said that "no probe has been ordered nor any report sought from anyone." Earlier in 2008, Chatwal was considered for the
Padma Shri, but the
Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C. declined to nominate Chatwal when asked by the Prime Minister's Office. The then Indian
Ambassador to the United States
Ronen Sen had told PMO that the conferral would not be appropriate because of the controversy associated with his financial dealings in India and America. Sen also mentioned that, though positive, Chatwal's contributions are much less compared to those of other Indian-Americans. The bestowal would not only "demoralise the others who had done much more" but also would create "the impression that India did not regard lack of transparency in financial dealings as a disqualification for its highest honours." In 2022, former
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya refused to accept his award on the eve of the 73rd Republic Day of India. He reportedly refused to have been intimated about his nomination and straightaway exclaimed in the media that if he had been awarded, he would refuse the same. His name appeared on the official list of awardees, and so far, he has refused the same. ==List of awardees==