However, government servants including those working with public sector undertakings, except doctors and scientists, are not eligible for these Awards.

The recommendations are received from all the state and the union territory governments, the Ministries of the Government of India, the Bharat Ratna and previous Padma Vibhushan award recipients, the Institutes of Excellence, the Ministers, the Chief Ministers and the Governors of State, and the Members of Parliament including private individuals.

The "Padma Vibhushan", along with other personal civil honours, was briefly suspended twice, from July 1977 to January 1980 and from August 1992 to December 1995.

P. N. Haksar, Vilayat Khan, E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Swami Ranganathananda, and Manikonda Chalapathi Rau, Mata Amritanandamayi refused the award, the family members of Lakshmi Chand Jain (2011) and Sharad Anantrao Joshi (2016) declined their posthumous conferments, and Baba Amte returned his 1986 conferment in 1991.

In 2024, the award was bestowed upon five recipients – Vyjayanthimala, Chiranjeevi, Venkaiah Naidu, Bindeshwar Pathak (posthumous) and Padma Subrahmanyam.

[3] The award, along with other personal civilian honours, was briefly suspended twice in its history;[4] for the first time in July 1977 when Morarji Desai was sworn in as the fourth Prime Minister of India, for being "worthless and politicized".

[7][a] On 25 August 1992, the Madhya Pradesh High Court issued a notice temporarily suspending all civilian awards.

[12] The recommendations are received from all state and union territory governments, the Ministries of the Government of India, the Bharat Ratna and previous Padma Vibhushan award recipients, the Institutes of Excellence, the Ministers, the Chief Ministers, the Governors of State, and the Members of Parliament, including private individuals.

The recommendations received during 1 May and 15 September of every year are submitted to the Padma Awards Committee, convened by the Prime Minister of India.

[3] The original 1954 specifications of the award called for a circle made of gold gilt 1+3⁄8 inches (35 mm) in diameter, with rims on both sides.

The Emblem of India was placed in the centre of the reverse side with the text "Desh Seva" in Devanagari Script on the lower edge.

The medal was suspended by a pink riband 1+1⁄4 inches (32 mm) in width divided into two equal segments by a white vertical line.