STATE OF MAHARASHTRA vs SUNIL MURALIDHAR THAKUR — C.A. No. 4088/1998

Summary of C.A. No. 4088/1998 (State of Maharashtra v. Sunil Muralidhar Thakur) On January 21, 2004, the Supreme Court allowed the State of Maharashtra's civil appeal. The High Court had dismissed a writ petition concerning whether respondents belonged to the Thakur Schedule Tribe by merely applying precedent from Palghat Jilla Thandan case; the Supreme Court found this approach unjustified as the question required merit-based examination of whether respondents qualified as Schedule Tribe members. The Court set aside the High Court's order and remitted the petition for fresh disposal in accordance with law, leaving all contentions open for re-argument before the High Court. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.