If the board finds, decides and orders that the taxes be canceled or otherwise adjusted, the petitioner, or petitioners, shall, within twenty (20) days thereafter, file with the clerk of the district court of said county a petition praying in effect that the proceedings of the board may be examined, approved and confirmed by the court. The court, or the judge thereof at chambers shall thereupon make an order designating a time for hearing said petition and direct the clerk of the court to publish a notice, at the expense of the petitioner or petitioners, of the filing of said petition. The notice shall state the time and place fixed by the court for hearing the petition and the prayer thereof, and a brief statement of the action taken by the board of county commissioners thereon, and that any person interested in the subject-matter of said petition may, on or before the day fixed for the hearing thereof, demur to or answer said petition. The notice shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county at least once a week for at least two (2) consecutive weeks, and the time fixed for the hearing shall be not less than twenty (20) days from the first publication of such notice. The rules of pleading and practice in civil actions in the district court shall apply to proceedings hereunder insofar as the same are not inconsistent with the provisions of this act.