NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has effectively locked out his junior minister, Subhash Bhamre , from the high-profile ministry’s most important deliberations — the senior minister has ordered that all top secret files, updates on operational issues and matters related to strategic systems should be routed directly to him.In an order issued on August 11, defence ministry departments have been asked not to route certain matters through Bhamre, who took over on July 6. The order supersedes an earlier instruction issued on July 18 that gave much more authority to the minister of state for defence. ET has reviewed the orders. A defence ministry spokesperson did not respond to ET’s questions. Officials who spoke to ET for this report requested anonymity.Defence ministry’s recent history with junior ministers has not been controversyfree. ET had reported on July 8 (‘Days Before Exit, Inderjit had Major Row Over Gun’) that the previous MoS, Rao Inderjit Singh, had pitched for an Italian firm, Beretta, for a carbine contract for the Army, and that intervention led to a major row at a top-level defence ministry meeting.In that meeting, Singh had said the Army and defence ministry’s acquisition wing were guilty of “unfair selection”, and had asked that the Central Bureau of Investigation be brought in to look at the selection process. The July 18 order on allocation of work in the ministry required that all matters be submitted to Parrikar through MoS defence. The exceptions to this were starred questions in Parliament, calling attention motions, a VIP reference addressed to the minster and any urgent or immediate matters.An official familiar with the matter told ET the new order was directed not so much at the current MoS Bhamre, but at the office of the minister of state. The logic behind the new order is an effort to control the flow of information and also prevent information leaks.The August 11 order takes a lot away from the junior minister. The new work allocations says “all operational matters related to armed forces and Coast Guard; all matters related to DRDO (Defence Research & Development Organisation) and strategic systems; all top secret files” should be routed directly to Parrikar.Also, promotions in the armed forces at the level of ‘major general’ and above and all matters related to foreign visits by armed forces officers are to be submitted directly to the defence minister. People familiar with the defence ministry’s functioning said the new work allocation doesn’t leave the junior minister much scope for influencing the most critical decisions in this important ministry.