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Who was Rakesh Mehta? Chief secretary under Sheila Dikshit dies by suicide. He lived alone in final days
A 1975-batch IAS officer, he held several senior positions in the Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
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Former Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta died by suicide at his Noida residence on Sunday. He was 74.
Police said they recovered a note from his home in Sector 82, where Mehta referred to prolonged illness and said no one was responsible for his death. His family arranged his last rites at the Lodhi Road crematorium in Delhi on Monday.
Who was Rakesh Mehta?
Mehta had a career spanning more than three decades in the Indian Administrative Service. A 1975-batch IAS officer, he held several senior positions in the Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and worked on major reforms in transport, power and civic administration.
Deep Dive
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Mehta studied at St Stephen’s College and Jawaharlal Nehru University before pursuing economics at the London School of Economics.
Chief secretary under Sheila Dikshit
Mehta took charge as Delhi’s chief secretary in 2007 and continued in the position until November 2010. During this period, Delhi prepared for and hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The event was later dogged by allegations of irregularities and questions over expenditure, including during the tenure of then chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
Changes in Delhi’s transport system
Mehta played an important role in plans to phase out the Blueline buses and introduce low-floor buses in Delhi.
During his tenure as principal secretary (transport), around 2,500 low-floor buses were added to the city’s fleet. The move formed part of a wider effort to modernise public transport before the Commonwealth Games.
Former Delhi minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, who worked with Mehta during the Sheila Dikshit government, recalled him as an efficient officer who was open to new 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 Hindustan Times.
ALSO READ | Former Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta dies at 74
Role in power privatisation
Mehta also served as Delhi’s Power Secretary when the government privatised electricity distribution in the Capital.
The reform changed the way Delhi’s electricity distribution was managed and became one of the major administrative and economic changes undertaken in the city during that period. Mehta served as MCD commissioner, where he worked on changes to the civic body's tax and sanitation systems.
Former Delhi chief secretary Ramesh Negi, who worked with Mehta in the MCD, Delhi Jal Board and transport department, credited him with introducing the unit area method for calculating property tax.
Negi said the system helped reduce corruption and benefited millions of residents. He also credited Mehta with the privatisation of sanitation services in the MCD.
“He was above bureaucratic lethargy and was never hesitant in implementing and executing new projects and ideas,” Negi said.
Rakesh Mehta's final days
Mehta had been living alone in a rented home in Kendriya Vihar 2 Society in Sector 82, Noida. His wife, also a retired IAS officer, lives in Dehradun with their son and daughter.
Police said his wife last spoke to him on Saturday night. When she could not reach him by phone on Sunday, she contacted the society’s security officer and asked him to check on Mehta.
Police received information at around 1:30pm that Mehta had been found dead at his home.
A police officer said the note found at the residence mentioned prolonged illness and stated that no one was responsible. Police handed over the body to the family after completing the required legal procedures.
(With PTI inputs)
