The government called off the scheduled meeting of the forum partly due to the situation, said Amari, state minister for regulatory, administrative and civil service reform.

The government forum, chaired by Prime Minister Taro Aso, is made up of all members of the Cabinet.

Officials say it is highly unusual for a government organization to refuse to send a representative to a meeting chaired by the prime minister.

Amari, speaking at a news conference, said the government will go ahead with its plan to promote reforms of the country's national service system regardless of the organization's intentions.

The personnel authority is an independent administrative commission formed by three commissioners and is in charge of management of civil servants in Japan. It advises the prime minister and the Diet on matters concerning national government civil servants, notably recruitment and salaries.

The government intended to work out the time schedule of work for reforms of the national public service system at Friday's meeting, and the personnel authority's refusal forced the government to delay the schedule beyond next week, government sources said.

National Personnel Authority President Masahito Tani, one of the three commissioners, telephoned Amari on Thursday and told him his organization opposes the proposed integration of its planning functions into the planned Cabinet personnel and administrative management bureau, the sources said.

Tani said such a plan runs counter to the Constitution and that the personnel authority would be absent from Friday's meeting, according to the sources.

The government called off the meeting after some Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers also demanded a revision to the wording in the time schedule of work for reforms, they said.