At any stage of proceedings on an application or complaint made to the Certification Officer, he may—
The Certification Officer may order an application or complaint made to him to be struck out for excessive delay in proceeding with it.
An order under this section may be made on the Certification Officer's own initiative and may also be made—
Before making an order under this section, the Certification Officer shall send notice to the party against whom it is proposed that the order should be made giving him an opportunity to show cause why the order should not be made.
Subsection (4) shall not be taken to require the Certification Officer to send a notice under that subsection if the party against whom it is proposed that the order under this section should be made has been given an opportunity to show cause orally why the order should not be made.
Nothing in this section prevents the Certification Officer from making further provision under section 256(1) about the striking out of proceedings on any application or complaint made to him.
An appeal lies to the Employment Appeal Tribunal on any question of law arising from a decision of the Certification Officer under this section.
In this section—