new delhi a french court has ordered a freeze on residential real estate owned by the indian government in central paris in what is seen as an embarrassment for the centre in its decade long tax dispute with cairn energy plctribunal judiciaire de paris ruling based on cairn energys application will impact some 20 properties valued at more than euros 20 million as part of a guarantee of the debt owed to the british company that exited india a few years agoread alsogovernment files appeal against 14 billion cairn arbitration awardthe government has filed an appeal against cairn arbitration award news agency pti reported quoting sources the appeal believed to be filed on monday has been filed against a threemember tribunal at the permanent court of arbitration at the hague invalidating indias rs 10247 crore taxcairn sues air india in us to recover 12 billion retro tax award against govtscottish explorer cairn energy plc has sued lossmaking air india in a us court to force recovery of a 12 billion international arbitration award it won in december against the indian governments retrospective tax claim a move that could bog down ai disinvestment cairn asked air india to bethis is the necessary preparatory step to taking ownership of the properties and ensures that the proceeds of any sales would be due to cairn said a source familiar with the proceedingsthe finance ministry on tuesday said the government remains open to an amicable solution to resolve the dispute with cairn within the countrys legal framework while maintaining that it had not received any notice order or communication from any french court regarding a freeze on stateowned propertiesthe government is trying to ascertain the facts and whenever such an order is received appropriate legal remedies will be taken in consultation with its counsels to protect the interests of india the ministry said in a statementon march 22 the government filed an application to set aside the december 2020 international arbitral award in the hague court of appeal government of india will vigorously defend its case in set aside proceedings at the hague the government saidthe action in france is part of cairns enforcement strategy to push the government to withdraw its appeal against an international tribunals award in the retrospective taxation case the arbitration tribunal had held that the government had violated provisions of a tax treaty in seeking capital gains tax from the company listed in londoncairn has filed cases in several countries to pursue the unpaid international arbitration award of 17bn the arbitration award has also been registered in other jurisdictions including the us the uk canada singapore mauritius france and the netherlands as the company focuses on high value assetsit had filed cases in the southern district of new york seeking judicial confirmation that air india can be classed as the alter ego of the indian state and thereby jointly liable for the arbitral award