Thanks all for replies.

Here is what customer says "I need my meter reading to match (within +/- 0.1degrees) with a standard meter like fluke" :-( This is required using a thermistor... Thermistor has at least 5% tolerance and other effects like self-heating. But a thermistor is must for cost reasons. (as always customer wants a lowest cost rocket science)....

Per, Dallas one-wire sensors are still quite expensive than thermistors.
Michael,
Even my first reaction was that it is not possible to accommodate 1410 steps with 10bit ADC. But I wanted to confirm if I am missing something..
Since, cost is a major constraint here, changing resolution to 0.5 at least should be the way out.
Using a silicon diode/B-E junction also seems a good option. Have you used that sometime? In this case, constant current by using a precision voltage reference and a resistor should be enough?

Neil,
Will it help to increase resolution by linearizing?

Another option suggested somewhere was to use oversampling. Has anyone tried that?