diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionServer.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionServer.java
index 408cfbe5664..025fc53d0e9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionServer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionServer.java
@@ -2485,9 +2485,9 @@ public class HRegionServer extends RegionServer
     }
     LOG.info("Received request to open region: " +
       region.getRegionNameAsString());
+    HTableDescriptor htd = this.tableDescriptors.get(region.getTableName());
     this.regionsInTransitionInRS.putIfAbsent(region.getEncodedNameAsBytes(),
         true);
-    HTableDescriptor htd = this.tableDescriptors.get(region.getTableName());
     // Need to pass the expected version in the constructor.
     if (region.isRootRegion()) {
       this.service.submit(new OpenRootHandler(this, this, region, htd,
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestZKBasedOpenCloseRegion.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestZKBasedOpenCloseRegion.java
index c8e523f5e56..8c3f67e1e49 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestZKBasedOpenCloseRegion.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestZKBasedOpenCloseRegion.java
@@ -47,9 +47,13 @@ import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
+import org.mockito.internal.util.reflection.Whitebox;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
 
 /**
  * Test open and close of regions using zk.
@@ -308,6 +312,30 @@ public class TestZKBasedOpenCloseRegion {
     LOG.info("Done with testCloseRegion");
   }
 
+  /**
+   * If region open fails with IOException in openRegion() while doing tableDescriptors.get()
+   * the region should not add into regionsInTransitionInRS map
+   * @throws Exception
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testRegionOpenFailsDueToIOException() throws Exception {
+    HRegionInfo REGIONINFO = new HRegionInfo(Bytes.toBytes("t"),
+        HConstants.EMPTY_START_ROW, HConstants.EMPTY_START_ROW);
+    HRegionServer regionServer = TEST_UTIL.getHBaseCluster().getRegionServer(0);
+    TableDescriptors htd = Mockito.mock(TableDescriptors.class);
+    Object orizinalState = Whitebox.getInternalState(regionServer,"tableDescriptors");
+    Whitebox.setInternalState(regionServer, "tableDescriptors", htd);
+    Mockito.doThrow(new IOException()).when(htd).get((byte[]) Mockito.any());
+    try {
+      regionServer.openRegion(REGIONINFO);
+      fail("It should throw IOException ");
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+    }
+    Whitebox.setInternalState(regionServer, "tableDescriptors", orizinalState);
+    assertFalse("Region should not be in RIT",
+        regionServer.getRegionsInTransitionInRS().containsKey(REGIONINFO.getEncodedNameAsBytes()));
+  }
+  
   private static void waitUntilAllRegionsAssigned()
   throws IOException {
     HTable meta = new HTable(TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration(),