Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO)

March 31, 2019

The Defence Ministry, in an order issued in August 2018, has clarified that Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) in the Indian military are gazetted officers.

About:

Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) is a term describing a group of military ranks.
Soldiers holding JCO rank receive a commission from the President, but this commission is of a lower status than that held by full commissioned officers.
The recent clarification follows a long standing controversy over the issue. This is a reversal of an order issued in June 2018, in which Defence Ministry observed that there was no case for accepting JCOs as Gazetted officers.

JCO ranks in Indian Army (from highest to lowest)	JCO equivalent ranks in Indian Navy	JCO equivalent ranks in Indian Air Force
Subedar-Major	Master Chief Petty Officer Class 1	Master Warrant Officer
Subedar	Master Chief Petty Officer Class 2	Warrant Officer
Naib Subedar	Chief Petty Officer	Junior Warrant Officer

Gazetted officer:

Gazetted officer means any public servant whose appointment is published in the government gazette.
The Gazette of India:
- It is a public journal and an authorised legal document of the Government of India. As a public journal, the Gazette prints official notices from the government.
- It is published weekly by the Department of Publication, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Source : The Hindu