Pennsylvania Statutes Title 53 P.S. Municipal and Quasi-Municipal Corporations § 13208. Examination of petitions;  filing;  rejection

When any petition is presented to the city council of the city under or pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of section 3,  1 it shall be the duty of the clerk of the city council, with the assistance and advice of the city solicitor or head of the department of law of the city, to examine such petition.  No such petition shall be permitted to be filed if (1) it contains material errors or defects   2 apparent on the face thereof or on the face of the appended or accompanying affidavits, or (2) it contains material errors made after signing without the consent of the signers, or (3) it does not contain a sufficient number of genuine signatures, as required by this act:  Provided, however, That although not hereby required so to do, the clerk of the city council may question the genuineness of any signature or signatures appearing thereon and if he shall thereupon find that any such signature or signatures are not genuine, such signature or signatures shall be disregarded by him in determining whether the petition contains a sufficient number of signatures, as required by this act.  The invalidity of any sheet of a petition shall not affect the validity of such petition if a sufficient petition remains after eliminating such invalid sheet.  The action of the clerk of the city council in rejecting and refusing to file any petition may be reviewed by the court or courts of common pleas located in such city, upon an application for a writ of mandamus to compel its reception, as of the tenth day next following the day it was presented to the city council.  Unless such application for a writ of mandamus shall be made and filed in the said court of common pleas within ten days after the refusal of the clerk of city council to file the petition, the court shall be without jurisdiction to entertain or consider any application for a writ of mandamus or any other proceeding to compel the filing of the petition:  Provided, however, That the clerk of the city council shall be entitled to a reasonable time in which to examine any such petition and to summon and interrogate the persons presenting the petition or any of the signers thereof or any of the affiants to any of the appended or accompanying affidavits and his retention of such petition for the purpose of making such examination or interrogation shall not be construed as the filing thereof.