The Supreme Court said it would waive the one per cent court fee on the Income Tax Department, on the Rs 2,500 crore deposited by Vodafone International Holdings, if the government gives an undertaking that it would not make the claim of "unjust enrichments".

A bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar, expressed willingness to waive off the fee, if the government gives the undertaking in case they lose their case against Vodafone.

"If you make statement that we will not make unjust enrichments claims if you lose (then we would)," the bench said to the Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati, representing the government. The "doctrine of unjust enrichment" has been propounded as an equitable concept created to remedy injustices that occur, where one person makes a substantial contribution to the property of another person without compensation.

Vahanvati said the stake in this matter was big and he would make a statement on Monday, after consulting the government. He further submitted that one per cent court fee must be waived off, otherwise in the event of losing the case, the government would pay back Rs 2,475 crore only to Vodafone.

In December, the government had moved an application requesting the Supreme Court to waive the fee for letting it withdraw Rs 2,500 crore, deposited by Vodafone.

Instead, it had requested the court to direct Vodafone to submit Rs 25 crore extra, so that the government gets the full amount of Rs 2,500 crore.