IAS officer Shamla Iqbal suspended for corruption

The State government on Friday placed IAS officer Shamla Iqbal under suspension for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to her income and for her alleged involvement in irregularities in the implementation of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).

She was suspended based on the recommendation of the Lokayukta police, which had raided her residence on March 9 this year as part of its investigation into the ICDS scam. Shamla Iqbal had served as the Director, Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) and transferred in January 2012 without a posting. Subsequently, the Lokayukta police had recommended to the government that the officer should be suspended.

The government had, in turn, directed the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) to verify the assets seized by the Lokayukta during the raid with that of her affidavit of annual assets.

Sources said the DPAR had prima facie found that assets seized by the Lokayukta were disproportionate to her known sources of income, official sources said.

Deccan Herald had recently highlighted how the government had failed to act on the recommendation of the Lokayukta police to suspend her in the face of two FIRs registered against her by them.

Out of three government officials against whom the Lokayukta police had filed an FIR, Assistant Director Muniraju and now Shamla Iqbal have been suspended. Another officer, Usha Patwari, continues to hold the post of General Manager of Karnataka State Women’s Development Corporation.

Apart from possession of disproportionate assets, charges against Shamla Iqbal relate to pilferage, mismanagement and misappropriation of funds allocated for the ICDS, where a large component dealt with providing supplementary nutrition to children in anganwadis, pregnant women, lactating mothers and adolescents.