The Supreme Court today held that the Competition Commission of India, CCI has authority to direct investigation pertaining to fair trade practices and itsdirections cannot be challenged before the Competition Appellate Tribunal or COMPAT.However, the apex court said that such powers have to be exercised sparingly and put some conditions saying that theinvestigations have to be completed in a time-bound manner within 60 days.It said that while directing investigations, the competition watchdog CCI has to record reasons.The CCI had challenged the order of the COMPAT stopping a director general from investigating into allegations levelled by Jindal Steel & Power Ltd over an exclusive agreement between SAIL and Indian Railways on purchase of rail.The judgement was pronounced by the bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar. The bench partly allowed the appeal of CCI. CCI had approached Supreme Court in July contending that COMPAT cannot stay the investigations directed by it against any firm or company.