Ghaziabad, May 7 (IANS) About 10,000 criminal cases are pending with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) due to severe shortage of staff, the probe agency's chief said here Saturday.

 
 CBI Director A.P. Singh said: "We are short of officers. At least 30 percent of the posts within the CBI are vacant. The central and state governments are also not meeting our requirement through deputation of additional officers. We are loaded with the fresh cases from states, the union government and from the courts."
 
 The director was the chief guest at the investiture ceremony of sub-inspectors at the CBI Academy here.
 
 He said that it had become the Herculean task for the agency to deal with the finance related crimes.
 
 "We had requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to provide us some skilled officers to deal with the financial crimes. But the RBI also had shown its inability to provide such skilled staff. Hence about 10,000 criminal cases are still pending," the officer said.
 
 He said the agency is hopeful of early disposal of its cases as 71 new special CBI courts are being set up across the country.