Mehrotra was involved in policy-making bodies from early stages of his career when he sat in the Review Committee in Chemistry in 1960 and the committee made a number of recommendations on improvement of curriculum, research environment, and examination procedures of chemistry education in India. During 1963–67, he sat in the Chemical Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission of India. The Commission on Revision of Pay Scales to Teachers which he chaired in 1983 recommended that the procedure for selection of teachers should also include an assessment of the physical and mental abilities of the candidates. The commission also recommended for pay scale revision of the teaching staff ranging from over 200 to more than 300 per cent which was subsequently accepted by the Government of India and the revision was implemented in 1987 with retrospective effective from 1 January 1986.
Mehrotra served as the president of the chemistry section of the Indian Science Congress Association in 1967, he would also serve as its national president in 1979. Besides participating in the UGC ad-hoc commissions, he was also associated with the body as a convener of its chemistry panel and his association with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) included the chair of the Chemical Research Committee (1975) and membership in CSIR Society and CSIR Governing Body (1963–66 and 1976–80). He served as the president of the Indian Chemical Society (1976–77) and Vigyan Parishad, Allahabad, as the vice president of the Indian National Science Academy - INSA (1977–78) and as a member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (1977–81). He was also a member of the INSA council from 1979 to 1981.