Cairn Energy says a French court has accepted its petition for a freeze on some Indian government properties in Paris as part of its attempts to recover a $1.2 billion arbitration award it won last year. Reports suggest that a French court has ordered the freeze on 20 centrally located properties of the Indian government, worth more than $24 million, as part of a guarantee of the amount owed to Cairn. Cairn is unlikely to evict the officials living in those properties but the government cannot sell them after the court order.