LAHORE Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry has said the concept of severe punishment in Islam is for the sake of minimising crime rate in the society. Therefore, it is imperative that criminals and offenders are awarded due punishment in the interest of rooting out corruption and crime, said the chief justice said while exchanging views with Bar representatives from Sargodha, Bhalwal, Shahpur and Gorja who called on him here on Tuesday. The lawyers commended the chief justices campaign against corruption in judiciary and invited his attention to other sectors as well where this evil was rampant. The office-holders also urged the chief justice for setting up a LHC Bench in Sargodha where the lawyers were facing serious difficulties while traveling to Lahore in pursuit of their cases. The CJ, however, said the matter was pending before the Court and whatever the court would decide the administrative committee would act upon it. The chief justice asked the Bar members to help the judiciary in its efforts to end crimes in the society and to ensure that criminals do not go scot-free. The members also invited the CJ to visit their respective bars.