Junior commissioned officer

Junior commissioned officer (JCO) is a group of military ranks which is higher than havildar (non-commissioned officer) and lower than lieutenant (commissioned officer). The term is only used by Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Senior havildars are promoted to JCO rank on the basis of merit and seniority, restricted by the number of vacancies. JCOs are treated as a separate class and hold additional privileges. The term was primarily associated with armies; however, since the 2000s, India and Pakistan's navies and air forces have also used the term to indicate their chief petty officers and warrant officers.

History

The JCO evolved from the native commissioned officers of the Presidency armies, who held commissions from the Governor General. The native commissioned officers developed into the viceroy's commissioned officers (VCOs), established in the British Indian Army during the British Raj in 1885. Gurkha regiments in British service had also their set of 'native officers' resp. VCOs, although their homeland Nepal was never a British colony.[citation needed]

Under the British, there was a clear colonial context, with the VCOs being the highest ranks an Indian could attain. The full commissioned officers were British, from the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century. However, that changed slowly under the principles of Indianisation.[citation needed] In 1905, a special form of a king’s Commission in His Majesty’s Native Land Forces was instituted. Indians who had qualified through the Imperial Cadet Corps would earn a commission that was limited to having authority over Indian troops only. Its holders could not rise above major.[citation needed] From 1917, in the midst of World War I, Indians 'with good family background' became eligible to study at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and earn a commission as King's Commissioned Indian Officer (KCIO). By the time of independence in 1947, there were many Indian (and Pakistani) officers who had graduated from Sandhurst or the Indian Military Academy.[citation needed] In 1945 the Willcox Committee Report recommended that VCOs be phased out, though this never occurred.

The Indian Army has recruited Gurkha soldiers from Nepal since the 19th century and separate Gurkha regiments were created for them, the Gurkha soldiers got same ranks as other Indian soldiers; the modern Nepal Army officially used the Indian Army rank system for their soldiers in the 1960s through a series of reorganizations and the JCO term has been used by them from then. After the secession of East Pakistan in 1971, the Bangladesh Army inherited the JCO rank system from the Pakistan Army.[citation needed]

Current ranks

Bangladesh

Paramilitary forces

India

The pay scale for Indian Army's Naib Subedar, Subedar and Subedar Major ranks are levels 6, 7 and 8, respectively.

Auxiliary forces

Pakistan

Paramilitary forces

Honorary commissions

There is also a custom of giving honorary commissions to deserving JCOs. Every year a list of eligible JCOs is drawn up and honorary commissions awarded to them. This could be at the time of retirement, or when still in service. Honorary commissioned officers may wear the appropriate rank insignia, but they do not become members of the officers' mess. They do, however, receive the pay and pension of their honorary rank. The honorary ranks in the various forces are:

Indian Army:

• Honorary Lieutenant
• Honorary Captain

Indian Navy:

• Honorary Sub Lieutenant
• Honorary Lieutenant

Indian Air Force:

• Honorary Flying Officer
• Honorary Flight Lieutenant

Generally, in official documents the JCO rank held by the person is also added before the Honorary Commission rank.

Further reading

• Johnson, Rob (2014). The British Indian Army: Virtue And Necessity. India: Cambridge Scholars.
• Singh, V. K. (2005). Leadership in the Indian Army: Biographies of Twelve Soldiers. India: SAGE Publications.
• Nawaz, Shuja (2008). Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army and the Wars Within. Pakistan: Oxford University Press.