(1) The Commissioner may, after considering any information furnished under this Act or otherwise received and after making such inquiry as he may deem fit, amend from time to time any certificate of registration.
(2) An amendment of the certificate of registration made under sub-section (1) shall take effect:--
(a) in the case of a change in the name, ownership or place of business, or opening of a new place of business, from the date of contingency which necessitates the amendment whether or not information in that behalf is furnished within the time prescribed under section 40;
(b) in the case of any addition or modification in the description of any goods or class of goods in the certificate of registration, from the date of the contingency if information in that behalf is furnished within the time prescribed under section 40 and from the date of receipt of request for such addition or modification by the Commissioner, in any other case;
(c) in the case of deletion of any goods or class of goods, from the date of order of deletion:
Provided that the Commissioner shall, before amending on his own motion a certificate of registration, give the dealer affected by such amendment a reasonable opportunity of being heard:
Provided further that where in consequence of a change in the ownership of a business the liability to pay tax of a dealer ceases, the amendment of the certificate of registration shall take effect from the date on which information in respect of such change is furnished under section 40.
(3) Any amendment of a certificate of registration under this section shall be without prejudice to any liability for tax or penalty imposable, or for any prosecution for an offence under this Act.
(4) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that where a registered dealer--
(a) effects a change in the name of his business; or
(b) is a firm and there is a change in the constitution of the firm without dissolution thereof; or
(c) is a trustee of a trust and there is a change in the trustees thereof; or
(d) is a guardian of a ward and there is a change in the guardian; or
(e) is a Hindu undivided family and the business of such family is converted into a partnership business with all or any of the co-parceners as partners thereof,
then, merely by reason of any of the circumstances aforesaid, it shall not be necessary for the dealer, or [the firm which changed the constitution] or the new trustees, or the new guardian, or as the case may be, the partners of such partnership business, to apply for a fresh certificate of registration and on information being furnished in the manner required by section 40 the certificate of registration shall be amended.