diff --git a/pkg/driver/controller.go b/pkg/driver/controller.go
index e1ef8fdf..82d0f286 100644
--- a/pkg/driver/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/driver/controller.go
@@ -808,6 +808,10 @@ func (cs *controller) DeleteSnapshot(
 
 	klog.Infof("DeleteSnapshot request for %s", req.SnapshotId)
 
+	if err := cs.validateDeleteSnapshotReq(req); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	// snapshodID is formed as <volname>@<snapname>
 	// parsing them here
 	snapshotID := strings.Split(req.SnapshotId, "@")
@@ -1129,3 +1133,32 @@ func LabelIndexFunc(label string) cache.IndexFunc {
 		return vs, nil
 	}
 }
+
+func (cs *controller) validateDeleteSnapshotReq(req *csi.DeleteSnapshotRequest) error {
+	if req.GetSnapshotId() == "" {
+		return status.Errorf(codes.InvalidArgument, "DeleteSnapshot: empty snapshotID")
+	}
+
+	cloneList, err := zfs.GetClonesForSnapshot(req.SnapshotId)
+	if err != nil {
+		return status.Errorf(
+			codes.NotFound,
+			"failed to handle delete snapshot request for {%s}, "+
+				"validation failed checking for existing clones. Error: %s",
+			req.GetSnapshotId(),
+			err.Error(),
+		)
+	}
+
+	// snapshot delete is not supported if clones exist for this snapshot
+	if len(cloneList.Items) != 0 {
+		return status.Errorf(
+			codes.Internal,
+			"failed to handle delete volume request for {%s} with %d clones",
+			req.GetSnapshotId(),
+			len(cloneList.Items),
+		)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/zfs/volume.go b/pkg/zfs/volume.go
index 44a75427..f9df41e2 100644
--- a/pkg/zfs/volume.go
+++ b/pkg/zfs/volume.go
@@ -315,6 +315,24 @@ func GetZFSSnapshotStatus(snapID string) (string, error) {
 	return snap.Status.State, nil
 }
 
+// GetClonesForSnapshot lists all the clone volumes for the given snapshot
+func GetClonesForSnapshot(snapID string) (*apis.ZFSVolumeList, error) {
+	zfsVolList, err := volbuilder.NewKubeclient().WithNamespace(OpenEBSNamespace).List(metav1.ListOptions{})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	listBuilder := volbuilder.ListBuilderFrom(*zfsVolList)
+	listBuilder.WithFilter(func(vol *volbuilder.ZFSVolume) bool {
+		if vol.Object.Spec.SnapName == snapID {
+			return true
+		}
+		return false
+	})
+
+	return listBuilder.List(), nil
+}
+
 // GetZFSSnapshotCapacity return capacity converted to int64
 func GetZFSSnapshotCapacity(snap *apis.ZFSSnapshot) (int64, error) {
 	if snap == nil {