24. (1) Every money-lender shall keep and maintain at least a cash book, a ledger and a receipt book in such form or forms as may be prescribed, and the same shall be written in Bengali or English in the regular course of business. (2) Every money-lender shall-(a) deliver to the borrower at the time a loan is advanced a statement in Bengali or English as the borrower may desire, in such form as may be prescribed and showing such details of the conditions of the loan and such other information connected therewith as may be prescribed;(b) give to the borrower a plain and complete receipt for every payment made on account of any loan at the time of such payment;(c) upon repayment in full of a loan mark indelibly with words indicating full payment or cancellation every paper signed by the borrower, and discharge any mortgage, restore any pledge, return any note and cancel any assignment given by the borrower as security. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Evidence Act, 1872, a copy of the account referred to in sub-section (1) shall, if certified in such manner as may be prescribed, be admissible as evidence of the contents of such account.

25. (1) Every money-lender shall, within two months of the commencement of each year, furnish each of his borrowers with a legible statement of accounts in Bengali or English as the borrower may desire signed by the money-lender or his agent and showing the amount outstanding against the borrower; such statement shall be in the prescribed form and shall show-(a) the amounts of principal and interest due to the money-lender at the commencement of the year;(b) the amounts of any sums advanced to the borrower from time to time since the commencement of the year and the dates on which they were advanced;(c) the amounts of any payments received from the borrower since the commencement of the year in respect of loans outstanding and the dates on which they were received;(d) the amount of every sum due from the borrower remaining unpaid and the date on which each such sum became due and the amount of interest accrued due and unpaid in respect of every such sum;(e) the amount of every sum not yet due which remains outstanding and the date upon which each such sum will become due; and(f) such other particulars as may be prescribed. (2) In respect of any particular loan, whether advanced before or after the commencement of this Act, a money-lender shall, on demand being made in writing by the borrower at any time while the loan or any portion thereof remains outstanding, supply to the borrower or to any person specified in that behalf in the demand, within thirty days from the date of receipt of the written demand by the money-lender or his duly authorised agent, a statement in Bengali or English as the borrower may desire, signed by the money-lender or his agent and showing in the prescribed form any or all of the particulars specified in sub-section (1): Provided that the money-lender shall not be bound to comply with such demand if he has complied with a demand made not more than six months prior to the date thereof, or if within such period of six months he has furnished the statement required by sub-section (1). (3) A money-lender shall, on a demand in writing by the borrower, supply to the borrower or to any person specified in that behalf in the demand a copy of any document evidencing an agreement to secure repayment of a loan advanced to the borrower: Provided that a money-lender shall not be bound to comply with such a demand if he has previously furnished the borrower with such copy, except on payment of such fee as may be prescribed. (4) In this section the expression “year” means the year for which the accounts of the money-lender are ordinarily maintained in his own books.

26. A borrower to whom a statement of accounts has been furnished under section 25 shall not be bound to acknowledge or deny its correctness, and his failure to do so shall not, by itself, be deemed to be an admission of the correctness of the account.

27. Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, in any suit to which this Act applies-(a) a Court shall, before deciding the claim on its merits, frame and decide the issue whether the money-lender has in respect of the claim in suit complied with the provisions of sections 24 and 25; and(b) if the Court finds that the provisions of either of the said sections have not been so complied with, it may, if the plaintiff's claim is established either wholly or in part, disallow the whole or such portion of the interest found due as may, in the circumstances of the case, appear reasonable to the Court, and may also disallow costs, or in computing the amount of interest due upon the loan, the Court may exclude any period for which the money-lender omitted to comply with the provisions of either of the said sections:Provided that if the money-lender has, after the time specified in the said sections, given the receipt or furnished the statement, as the case may be, and if he satisfies the Court that he had sufficient cause for not doing so earlier, the Court may include any such period in computing the interest.Explanation.- A money-lender who has given a receipt or furnished a statement in the prescribed form shall be held to have complied with the provisions of section 24 or section 25, as the case may be, in spite of any errors and omissions in such receipt or statement, if the Court finds that such errors and omissions are neither material nor made fraudulently.