(a) Whenever there may be in the State of Arkansas any school lands or lots situated in any county in this state, and in a congressional township, or fraction thereof, where no inhabitants reside, any adult inhabitant of the county, by written petition properly verified by the affidavit of the petitioner together with the affidavits of three (3) other adult inhabitants of the county and setting forth that there are no inhabitants residing in the congressional township or fraction thereof situated in the county may require the collector of taxes or, if there is no collector, the sheriff of the county wherein the land is situated, to sell the land.
(b) Sales of any lands under this section shall be made in the same manner as sales of other school lands or lots under this subchapter.