Ala. Code § 40-10-20
For the real estate bid off for the state in each case the judge of probate shall make out a certificate of purchase to the state of like import to the one provided for in Section 40-10-19 and deliver the same to the tax collector who shall, on final settlement, deliver all certificates received by him from the judge of probate to the Comptroller, who shall examine carefully all certificates of purchase of real estate where the same were bid in for the state at tax sale. When the same are received by him and if, in his opinion, such sale was erroneous for want of regularity, proper or sufficient description, error in advertising or for any other cause that may appear from such certificates, he shall so declare it and return the certificate to the judge of probate and charge the account of the officer making the error with all taxes, interests, fees, and costs involved in said sale. The Comptroller shall notify the judge of probate who issued the certificate of such cancellation, and shall also notify the tax assessor of the county in which the property is situated and direct him to assess the property as an escape for the years in which it was subject under existing laws. The Comptroller, when he has settled the accounts of the tax collector, shall deliver to the Land Commissioner all certificates of land bid in for the state which have been accepted by him, and said Land Commissioner shall cause the same to be recorded in a book kept in his office for that purpose and properly indexed for convenient reference. Lands bid in for the state shall not thereafter be assessed except as herein provided until the same have been redeemed or sold by the state.
Ala. Code § 40-10-20 (1975)