  Inclusive energy distributions for light charged particles ($p, d, t$ and
$\alpha$) have been measured in the $^{20}$Ne (158, 170, 180, 200 MeV) +
$^{12}$C reactions in the angular range 10$^{o}$ -- 50$^{o}$. Exclusive light
charged particle energy distribution measurements were also done for the same
system at 158 MeV bombarding energy by in-plane light charged particle --
fragment coincidence. Pre-equilibrium components have been separated out from
proton energy spectra using moving source model considering two sources. The
data have been compared with the predictions of the statistical model code
CASCADE. It has been observed that significant deformation effects were needed
to be introduced in the compound nucleus in order to explain the shape of the
evaporated $d, t$ energy spectra. For protons, evaporated energy spectra were
rather insensitive to nuclear deformation, though angular distributions could
not be explained without deformation. Decay sequence of the hot $^{32}$S
nucleus has been investigated through exclusive light charged particle
measurements using the $^{20}$Ne (158 MeV) + $^{12}$C reaction. Information on
the sequential decay chain has been extracted through comparison of the
experimental data with the predictions of the statistical model. It is observed
from the present analysis that exclusive light charged particle data may be
used as a powerful tool to probe the decay sequence of hot light compound
systems.
