Subsequently, he was elevated to the position of Chief Commissioner of Coorg Province from 26 April 1943 – March 1949 and then titled Diwan Bahadur.
He was also made an honorary Lieutenant in 1923,[1] resigning in 1928;[2] this might be considered as a prized post offered in Kodagu by the British in the official corps of the territorial force.
With its liveried staff and old world charm, it spawned a coffee revolution across the subcontinent that has lasted for decades.
He was the last Chief Commissioner of Coorg and the only one of Indian origin during the British Raj, as Englishmen held this position before him.
Chengappa's son Captain K. C. Medappa, an alumnus of Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore, was an officer in the Frontier Force Regiment who was killed in action on 16 December 1941 during the Malayan Campaign.