The Motwani Jadeja Foundation (MJF) came to its knees and tendered apologies for publicly circulating a training programme for IAS officers without taking approval of the government. The issue came to light after the Union Government took a firm stand and issued a formal advisory warning all states and ministries against nominating IAS officers for the training programme of the Motwani Jadeja Foundation. The advisory, released by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on Monday, said that the MJF uploaded the information on its own, without any reference to or approval of the DoPT.

A day after the DoPT signalled the red alert, the foundation’s chief, Asha Jadeja Motwani, took to her handle X (formerly Twitter) to express her regrets at the mistake committed by her Indian team in Ahmedabad, claiming it was done in ‘overenthusiasm’ and that she would soon contact the DoPT in Delhi to know how to proceed about it.

The MJF, headquartered in California in the US, had virtually circulated details of a training programme, called the 21st Century India Center Emerging Leaders Program, for mid-career IAS officers with 8-10 years of experience. The foundation invited the applications from IAS officers to participate in this programme.

The DoPT took umbrage at it and swung into action by issuing the advisory, clarifying that the programme was “not issued, approved, sponsored, or endorsed by the Government.”

In order to prevent any unauthorised participation, copies of the advisory, signed by DoPT’s Under Secretary Uma Magesh, were forwarded to all Chief Secretaries of states and UTs, Secretaries of Ministries/Departments, and NIC for uploading on the DoPT website.