diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
index b05eec4304cd5..53324c94c4b08 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
@@ -1396,10 +1396,13 @@ public GatedCloseable<IndexCommit> acquireSafeIndexCommit() throws EngineExcepti
     }
 
     /**
-     * Returns the lastest Replication Checkpoint that shard received. Shards will return an EMPTY checkpoint before
-     * the engine is opened.
+     * Returns the latest ReplicationCheckpoint that shard received.
+     * @return EMPTY checkpoint before the engine is opened and null for non-segrep enabled indices
      */
     public ReplicationCheckpoint getLatestReplicationCheckpoint() {
+        if (indexSettings.isSegRepEnabled() == false) {
+            return null;
+        }
         if (getEngineOrNull() == null) {
             return ReplicationCheckpoint.empty(shardId);
         }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
index 57c2289c848ef..0a48ef7c076c0 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@
 import org.opensearch.indices.fielddata.cache.IndicesFieldDataCache;
 import org.opensearch.indices.recovery.RecoveryState;
 import org.opensearch.indices.recovery.RecoveryTarget;
+import org.opensearch.indices.replication.checkpoint.ReplicationCheckpoint;
 import org.opensearch.indices.replication.checkpoint.SegmentReplicationCheckpointPublisher;
 import org.opensearch.indices.replication.common.ReplicationLuceneIndex;
 import org.opensearch.indices.replication.common.ReplicationType;
@@ -3500,6 +3501,27 @@ public void testReadSnapshotConcurrently() throws IOException, InterruptedExcept
         closeShards(newShard);
     }
 
+    /**
+     *  Test that latestReplicationCheckpoint returns null only for docrep enabled indices
+     */
+    public void testReplicationCheckpointNullForDocRep() throws IOException {
+        Settings indexSettings = Settings.builder().put(IndexMetadata.SETTING_REPLICATION_TYPE, "DOCUMENT").put(Settings.EMPTY).build();
+        final IndexShard indexShard = newStartedShard(false, indexSettings);
+        assertNull(indexShard.getLatestReplicationCheckpoint());
+        closeShards(indexShard);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     *  Test that latestReplicationCheckpoint returns ReplicationCheckpoint for segrep enabled indices
+     */
+    public void testReplicationCheckpointNotNullForSegReb() throws IOException {
+        Settings indexSettings = Settings.builder().put(IndexMetadata.SETTING_REPLICATION_TYPE, "SEGMENT").put(Settings.EMPTY).build();
+        final IndexShard indexShard = newStartedShard(indexSettings);
+        final ReplicationCheckpoint replicationCheckpoint = indexShard.getLatestReplicationCheckpoint();
+        assertNotNull(replicationCheckpoint);
+        closeShards(indexShard);
+    }
+
     /**
      * here we are mocking a SegmentReplicationcheckpointPublisher and testing on index shard if CheckpointRefreshListener is added to the InternalrefreshListerners List
      */