diff --git a/.github/workflows/utils.sh b/.github/workflows/utils.sh
index 8cf9eb00a..009da264f 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/utils.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/utils.sh
@@ -1,16 +1,27 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -o pipefail
 
+# Function to check if a branch exists in the remote repository
+function branch_exists() {
+    local branch=$1
+    git ls-remote --heads https://github.com/rdkcentral/firebolt-apis.git "$branch" | grep -q "$branch"
+}
+  
 function runTests(){
   echo "Determine the branch to checkout"
-  
   # Convert event name to lowercase
   PR_BRANCH=$(echo "$EVENT_NAME" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
 
-  # Check if OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH is not empty and event is repository_dispatch
+  # Check if OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH is not empty and the event is repository_dispatch
   if [ -n "$OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH" ] && [ "$PR_BRANCH" == "repository_dispatch" ]; then
-      PR_BRANCH=$OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH
-      echo "Using branch from OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH: $OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH"
+      # Check if the branch exists in firebolt-apis
+      if branch_exists "$OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH"; then
+          PR_BRANCH=$OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH
+          echo "Using branch from OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH: $OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH"
+      else
+          echo "Branch '$OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH' does not exist in firebolt-apis. Defaulting to 'next'."
+          PR_BRANCH="next"
+      fi
   elif [ "$PR_BRANCH" == "pull_request" ]; then
       # If it's a pull request event, use the PR branch
       PR_BRANCH=$PR_HEAD_REF
@@ -19,9 +30,10 @@ function runTests(){
       PR_BRANCH=$GITHUB_REF
       PR_BRANCH="${PR_BRANCH#refs/heads/}"
   else
-      echo "No OPENRPC_PR_BRANCH set, defaulting to branch 'next'"
-      PR_BRANCH="next"
+      echo "Unsupported event: $EVENT_NAME"
+      exit 1
   fi
+
   echo "Cloning firebolt-apis repo with branch: $PR_BRANCH"
   git clone --branch ${PR_BRANCH} https://github.com/rdkcentral/firebolt-apis.git
   echo "cd to firebolt-apis repo and compile firebolt-open-rpc.json"