A
King's Commissioned Indian Officer
(KCIO) was an Indian officer of the British Indian Army who held a full
King's Commission after training at the Royal Military
College, Sandhurst
, as opposed to the Indian Commissioned Officers
(ICOs), who were trained at the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun
, and the Viceroy's Commissioned
Officers (VCOs), who held positions analogous to British Army Warrant
Officers.KCIOs were introduced in the early 20th century
under the
Indianisation process.
They were
equivalent in every way to the British
King's Commissioned Officers
(KCOs), held the same ranks, and unlike VCOs had authority over
British troops. In fact, most KCIOs served on attachment to
a British unit for a year or two early in their careers.
Many officers who later held high rank in the post-independence
Indian Army and
Pakistan Army began their careers as KCIOs.
Kodandera Madappa
Cariappa,
Hanmantrao Mohite,
Kodendera Subayya
Thimayya,
S. P. P.
Thorat,
B.
M. Kaul, and
Ayub Khan were a few of the
Sandhurst-trained officers.
The last of the KCIOs in Indian Army Service was General
P. P. Kumaramangalam, who retired in
1969.Those King Commissioned Officers who were captured by the
japanese in Malaya, joined the Indian NAtional Army. They were
subsequently tried by the British for treason and Courtmartialled
at the Red fort trials. Colonel Abdul Aziz Sultan Mohammad Tajik of
Peshawar and Prince Burhanuddin of Chitral were two such officers.
As they joined Pakistan, they never got their pensions and
dues.