MUMBAI, Nov. 26 -- Fahim Arshad Mohammad Yusuf Ansari, one of the two accused acquitted in the 26/11 terror attack case, can take up any job that does not require a police clearance certificate (PCC), the state government told the Bombay High Court on Tuesday. The stance effectively bars him from working as a commercial auto rickshaw driver, contrary to his plea filed before the court in February this year. Unemployed since the printing press where he worked shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic, Ansari, 51, has challenged the refusal of the police to grant him a PCC which would enable him to work as a commercial auto driver. The refusal, on grounds of his alleged links with Pakistani terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was arbitrary, discriminatory, and seeped in prejudice, he alleged in his petition. He also claimed that he was being deprived of his fundamental rights to livelihood and right to life guaranteed under the constitution. During the hearing on Tuesday, additional public prosecutor Amit Palkar requested the division bench of justices AS Gadkari and Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale to hear the matter in-chamber, saying the 51-year-old acquitted accused was still under surveillance. Palkar submitted a confidential police report about Ansari's alleged association with the banned terror outfit, after which the bench agreed to hear the matter in-chamber later this week. Palkar also submitted before the court a list of jobs that mandate a PCC, such as all government, semi-government and municipal body jobs, permits and licences required to ply commercial vehicles, jobs in schools, colleges and as security guards. Ansari can take up any job that does not mandate or require a police clearance or character certificate from the police, the additional public prosecutor informed the court. Ansari was arrested on January 23, 2009 for allegedly providing local support to the 10 Pakistani LeT operatives who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008, killing 166 people over 72 hours. On May 3, 2010, a special court cleared him and his co-accused, Sabauddin Ahmed, of all the charges leveled against them. On February 21, 2011, the Bombay High Court upheld their acquittal. In his petition, Ansari said that he had filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, seeking details of his application for a PCC. As per the RTI response dated August 13, 2024, he was ineligible for a PCC in view of the allegations that he was a member of the LeT, which is banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act....