53 Pa. Stat. § 13107
When any petition is presented to the city council of the city under or pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of section two or of section six of this act, 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 (a) it contains material errors or defects apparent on the face thereof or on the face of the appended or accompanying affidavits, or (b) it contains material errors made after signing without the consent of the signers, or (c) 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, or (d) in the case of amendments proposed in the petition, if such proposed amendments, as set forth in the petition, are not in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the United States or of the Constitution or laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or of this act, or are not stated in such form or language as may be intelligently or properly submitted to the electors for approval or disapproval: Provided, however, That the city solicitor or head of the department of law of the city shall have authority to and may alter or change the form or language of, or restate the text of, the proposed amendments, by and with the approval of such signers of the petition who may have been authorized therein to approve any such alteration, change or restatement: And provided further, That if the form or language of such proposed amendments are thus altered or changed, or if the proposed amendments are thus restated, the defect arising because of the original form or language in which the proposed amendments were stated shall be deemed corrected. 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 of common pleas of the proper county, 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.
53 P.S. § 13107