Former Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta dies at 74

Former Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta, a career bureaucrat who helped steer some of the Capital’s major civic, transport and power-sector reforms and headed the administration during the 2010 Commonwealth Games, died on Sunday, months short of his 75th birthday

Former Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta, a career bureaucrat who helped steer some of the Capital’s major civic, transport and power-sector reforms and headed the administration during the 2010 Commonwealth Games, died on Sunday, months short of his 75th birthday.

Mehta served in several key positions in the Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) (HT)

A 1975-batch IAS officer, Mehta served in several key positions in the Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) over a career spanning more than three decades. He took over as chief secretary in 2007 and retired in November 2010. His cremation was held at Lodhi Crematorium on Monday.

Colleagues and politicians who worked with Mehta remembered him as an efficient administrator who was receptive to new ideas and willing to push through reforms, from changes in property tax assessment and power privatisation to preparing a plan for phasing out of Blueline buses and introducing low-floor buses.

Former Delhi minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, who worked closely with Mehta during the Sheila Dikshit government, recalled him as a positive and efficient officer who was willing to consider new ideas and policies.

“He was always open to implementing new policies and ideas. He was Power Secretary in the Delhi government when privatisation took place. He was also instrumental in preparing the plan to phase out Blueline buses and deploy low-floor buses on the city’s roads. He was a very good officer,” Lovely told HT over the phone.

Former Delhi chief secretary Ramesh Negi, who worked with Mehta in the MCD, Delhi Jal Board and the transport department, credited him with several significant administrative reforms.

Mehta served as MCD commissioner when Negi was additional commissioner. Negi said Mehta introduced the unit area method for calculating property tax, a reform that helped reduce corruption and benefited millions of residents.

“He was instrumental in privatising sanitation services in the MCD,” Negi said.

Negi also credited Mehta with helping ensure the smooth conduct of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. During Mehta’s tenure as principal secretary (transport), around 2,500 low-floor buses were added to the city’s fleet.

“He was above bureaucratic lethargy and was never hesitant in implementing and executing new projects and ideas,” Negi said, adding that Mehta played an important role in shaping Delhi’s civic infrastructure and public services.

Retired IAS officer JK Dadoo, in a LinkedIn post, recalled Mehta’s efficiency and said he had learnt enormously from him.

“He would complete a meeting & 3-4 hrs later his dictated signed minutes would be on your table — astonishing! Unparalleled in government,” Dadoo wrote.

Dadoo also credited Mehta with setting up the Air Ambience Fund, which has since grown to a corpus of around ₹500 crore. The fund receives 25 paise from the sale of every litre of diesel in Delhi through the Department of Trade and Taxes.