Any member of the township board or any resident of a township in which the cemetery was organized and in which the cemetery is located may petition the district court of the county setting forth facts authorizing an order of abandonment or extinction and disposition of property. Upon presentation of such a petition to the court the court may proceed in a summary manner after such notice as the court may prescribe to inquire into the merits of such application; and if upon examination by the court it shall satisfactorily appear that the making of the order of the disposition of the property applied for is necessary or proper, such court shall make a final order declaring such cemetery association to be abandoned and extinct and transferring the cemetery property and title and possession thereof to the township in which the cemetery of the association was located; it being the intent and purpose of this act to preserve the cemetery property formerly owned by the association for cemetery purposes.