Selective Service notified draft boards Monday to cancel induction orders for men who were drafted in 1972 but given induction postponements.

These men are being placed in an extended priority group and will be the first to be called if there is a draft call in March. If there is no March draft call, all 68,000 men in the extended priority group will be exempt from the draft and further calls will be filled with younger men.

Laird's Decision

The action came as a result of Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird's decision not to issue a January or February draft call. Daniel J. Cronin, deputy draft director in charge of operations, ordered the induction cancellation.

William Schendel, a draft counselor at the Office of Graduate and Career Plans, said it was "more likely than not" that there would be a March draft call, and that it would be filled entirely with men from the extended priority group.

Schendel said there are "200 at the most" Harvard undergraduates who will be placed in the extended priority group. He said that most of this group got induction postponements in 1972 because of temporary illness or injury.