LAHORE, Nov 28: Two ministers will take oath of their office at the Governor’s House on Saturday morning.

Governor Khalid Maqbool will administer the oath to Rana Qasim Noon and Sardar Hasan Akhtar Mokal.

The ceremony will also be attended by Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, his cabinet ministers and senior civil and military officers.

Mr Noon and Mr Mokal were among the 15 ministers appointed on November 25 but could not take oath because they had gone to perform Umra.

Mr Noon has been given the portfolio of agriculture marketing whose administrative set up is yet to be created. At present it is the part of the agriculture department.

Mr Mokal will hold the portfolio of management and professional development. This department was created around one-and-a-half years ago, having Safdar Javed Syed as the administrative secretary.

Some 15 new ministers, including five women, were inducted to the Punjab cabinet on Nov 25, raising its total strength to 41 from the previous 26.

The present provincial cabinet is the largest ever in the history of the province. In addition to the cabinet ministers, the province has some eight elected and unelected advisers and special assistants.

This is the only cabinet expansion announced by the government of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

All the newly-inducted ministers belong to the ruling PML-Q which has contemptuously ignored its coalition partners — the PPP Patriots and the Grand National Alliance.

The names of new provincial ministers are: Saeed Akbar Khan, Group Capt (retd) Mushtaq Ahmad Kiani, Col (retd) Shuja Khanzada , Sardar Hasan Akhtar Mokal, Syed Saeedul Hasan, Rana Mohammad Qasim Noon, Armughan Subhani, Muhammad Ejaz Shafi, Ghulam Mohyuddin Chishti, Syeda Sughra Imam, Aashifa Riaz Fatyana, Nasim Lodhi, Qudsia Lodhi, Joyce Rufin Julius and Abdul Aleem Khan.

Jam Muhammad Hashim Ghalija has been assigned the fisheries department.