diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 56b5e4dde98..fb702c021af 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -595,6 +595,9 @@ Release 2.0.3-alpha - Unreleased
     HDFS-4104. dfs -test -d prints inappropriate error on nonexistent directory
     (Andy Isaacson via daryn)
 
+    HDFS-3623. BKJM: zkLatchWaitTimeout hard coded to 6000. Make use of ZKSessionTimeout instead.
+    (umamahesh)
+
 Release 2.0.2-alpha - 2012-09-07 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/contrib/bkjournal/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/contrib/bkjournal/BookKeeperJournalManager.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/contrib/bkjournal/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/contrib/bkjournal/BookKeeperJournalManager.java
index 67f0b4b2293..6d9a65d2821 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/contrib/bkjournal/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/contrib/bkjournal/BookKeeperJournalManager.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/contrib/bkjournal/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/contrib/bkjournal/BookKeeperJournalManager.java
@@ -180,9 +180,16 @@ public class BookKeeperJournalManager implements JournalManager {
 
     try {
       zkConnectLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
-      zkc = new ZooKeeper(zkConnect, conf.getInt(BKJM_ZK_SESSION_TIMEOUT,
-          BKJM_ZK_SESSION_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT), new ZkConnectionWatcher());
-      if (!zkConnectLatch.await(6000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)) {
+      int bkjmZKSessionTimeout = conf.getInt(BKJM_ZK_SESSION_TIMEOUT,
+          BKJM_ZK_SESSION_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT);
+      zkc = new ZooKeeper(zkConnect, bkjmZKSessionTimeout,
+          new ZkConnectionWatcher());
+      // Configured zk session timeout + some extra grace period (here
+      // BKJM_ZK_SESSION_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT used as grace period)
+      int zkConnectionLatchTimeout = bkjmZKSessionTimeout
+          + BKJM_ZK_SESSION_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT;
+      if (!zkConnectLatch
+          .await(zkConnectionLatchTimeout, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)) {
         throw new IOException("Error connecting to zookeeper");
       }