(a)
Form, filing and
service. An application for rehearing or reconsideration may be filed
by a party to a proceeding within 15 days, or another period as may be
expressly provided by statute applicable to the proceeding, after the issuance
of an adjudication or other final order by the agency. The application shall be
made by petition, stating specifically the grounds relied upon.
(b)
Specification of errors.
The petitions for rehearing or reconsideration shall state concisely the
alleged errors in the adjudication or other order of the agency. If an
adjudication or other order of the agency is sought to be vacated, reversed or
modified by reason of matters that have arisen since the hearing and decision
or order, or by reason of a consequence that would result from compliance
therewith, the matters relied upon by the petitioner shall be set forth in the
petition.
(c)
Response. No answers to petitions for rehearing or
reconsideration will be entertained by the agency. If, and to the extent,
however, that rehearing or reconsideration is granted by the agency head, a
response in the nature of an answer may be filed by any participant within 15
days after the issuance of the order granting rehearing or reconsideration. The
response shall be confined to the issues upon which rehearing or
reconsideration has been granted.
(d)
Action on. Unless the
agency head acts upon the application for rehearing or reconsideration within
30 days after it is filed, or within the lesser time as may be provided or
prescribed by law (see subsection (e)), the application shall be deemed to have
been denied.
(e)
Shortened
period for agency action when judicial review is sought. Under
Pa.R.A.P. No. 1701(b)(3)(ii) (relating to effect of appeal generally), if a
party files a timely petition for review of an adjudication or other final
order which is a quasijudicial order for purposes of judicial review, the
agency may grant an application for rehearing or reconsideration only within
the time prescribed by Pa.R.A.P. No. 1512 (relating to time for petitioning for
review) for the filing of a petition for review; otherwise the application
shall be deemed to have been denied. Under Pa.R.A.P. No. 1512, the time
prescribed for the filing of a petition for review is measured from the date of
entry of the original adjudication or other final order and not from the date
of filing of the application for rehearing or reconsideration.
(f)
Concurrent filing of petition for
review and application for rehearing or reconsideration. Under this
section, agency denial of an application for rehearing or reconsideration may
occur after the expiration of the period permitted by Pa. R.A.P. No. 1512 for
the filing of a petition for review. Therefore, Pa.R.A.P. No. 1701(b)
contemplates that a party may elect to concurrently petition for review and
apply for rehearing or reconsideration of an adjudication or other final order
and:
(1) If rehearing or reconsideration is
denied, the original adjudication or other order will be subject to judicial
review upon the previously filed petition for review.
(2) If rehearing or reconsideration is
granted within the time contemplated by subsection (e):
(i) The timely order granting rehearing or
reconsideration automatically renders inoperative a petition for review
theretofore or thereafter filed with respect to the prior adjudication or other
final order.
(ii) The petitioning
party shall and another party may file a praecipe with the prothonotary of the
court in which the inoperative petition for review is filed to cause a note to
be made on the docket of the court that the petition has been stricken under
Pa.R.A.P. No. 1701(b).
(iii) If a
timely order granting rehearing or reconsideration has been entered under this
section, the time for filing a petition for review begins to run anew after the
entry of the decision on rehearing or reconsideration, whether or not that
decision amounts to a reaffirmation of the prior adjudication or other final
order. A new petition for review shall be filed to seek judicial review of the
decision on rehearing or reconsideration.
