KARACHI: Designated caretaker chief minister of Sindh Fazal-ur-Rahman is set to take oath of his office on Saturday (today).

Mr Rahman is the consensus candidate of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party and all opposition groups in the now dissolved Sindh Assembly for the office of the caretaker chief minister.

Officials said Governor Muhammad Zubair will administer oath to Mr Rahman under Article 224 of the Constitution at a simple ceremony to be held at the Sindh Governor House on Saturday at 11am.

They said after the oath ceremony the caretaker chief minister would go to the Quaid’s mausoleum to offer fateha and lay a floral wreath.

He is likely to present names of his cabinet members to the governor in next two to three days.

The designated official is set to form his cabinet in two to three days

A former Sindh chief secretary, Mr Rahman emerged as the consensus candidate for the top slot on Thursday night — which was the last day for outgoing Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah and Leader of the Opposition Khwaja Izharul Hasan to jointly name their nominee — after the dissolution of the provincial assembly on completion of its tenure on May 28.

Before joining the Sindh government, Mr Rahman had served as federal secretary for ports and shipping. He served as the Sindh chief secretary between 2005 and 2010, with a break of eight months when Shakil Durrani and Ejaz Qureshi had served as chief secretary.

He had also served as secretary of the excise and finance departments and remained the accountant general of the province.

After retirement, he also served as an adviser to former CM Qaim Ali Shah.

Until his announcement as the caretaker chief minister, he was a member of a committee formed for the appointment of vice chancellors of the public sector universities in the province.

Earlier on Thursday night, outgoing CM Shah said that he and the opposition leader were happy to fulfil their constitutional responsibility to give a consensus name.

Khwaja Izhar had said Mr Rahman was an experienced bureaucrat and hoped that he would be able to run the provincial affairs in a better way.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2018