Departures of note

Rakesh Mehta was a 1975-batch Indian Administrative Service officer whose career in the Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi spanned more than three decades. He served as Delhi's chief secretary from 2007 to November 2010, a period that included the city's preparation for and hosting of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He also held the posts of principal secretary (transport) and Delhi's Power Secretary, and served as MCD commissioner. Mehta was credited with introducing the unit area method for calculating property tax, helping reduce corruption, and with the privatisation of sanitation services in the MCD. He played a key role in phasing out Blueline buses and introducing around 2,500 low-floor buses to modernise Delhi's public transport, and oversaw the privatisation of electricity distribution in the capital. He studied at St Stephen's College and Jawaharlal Nehru University before pursuing economics at the London School of Economics. Mehta died by suicide at his Noida residence at the age of 74, leaving a note attributing his death to prolonged illness.