diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..485dee6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.idea
diff --git a/core/vscc/validate.go b/core/vscc/validate.go
index 7077026..d87e78e 100644
--- a/core/vscc/validate.go
+++ b/core/vscc/validate.go
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
 Copyright National Payments Corporation of India. All Rights Reserved.
- 
+
 SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 */
 
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func NewVsccValidateServer(ledgerConfig *ledger.Config, validationPluginsByName
 		if vdbProvider, err = statecouchdb.NewVersionedDBProvider(ledgerConfig.StateDBConfig.CouchDB, metricsProvider, nil); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
-	} else if ledgerConfig.StateDBConfig.StateDatabase == ledger.SqlDB {
+	} else if ledgerConfig != nil && ledgerConfig.StateDBConfig.StateDatabase == ledger.SqlDB {
 		vdbProvider, err = statesqldb.NewVersionedDBProvider(ledgerConfig.StateDBConfig.SqlDB, nil, nil)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
@@ -179,8 +179,11 @@ func (v *VsccValidateServer) InitializeTxValidator(channelName string, blockNumb
 	if blockNumber == 0 {
 		versionedValue, err := versionDb.GetState("", "LAST_LIFECYCLE_BLOCK_NUMBER")
 		if err != nil {
-			v.logger.Errorf("failed to initilialize txValidator : %v", err)
-			return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "failed to initilialize txValidator")
+			v.logger.Errorf("failed to initialize txValidator : %v", err)
+			return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "failed to initialize txValidator")
+		}
+		if versionedValue == nil || versionedValue.Version == nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("LAST_LIFECYCLE_BLOCK_NUMBER not found in state DB for channel %s", channelName)
 		}
 		blockNumber = versionedValue.Version.BlockNum
 	}
@@ -358,6 +361,11 @@ func (v *VsccValidateServer) getValidator(req *pb.VsccRequest) (*txvalidator.TxV
 				v.logger.Errorf("failed to initilialize txValidator : %v", err)
 				return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "failed to initilialize txValidator")
 			}
+
+			if versionedValue == nil || versionedValue.Version == nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("LAST_LIFECYCLE_BLOCK_NUMBER not found in state DB for channel %s", req.ChannelId)
+			}
+
 			lastLifecycleBlockNumberInDB := versionedValue.Version.BlockNum
 
 			if channelValidator.lastLifecycleBlockNumber != lastLifecycleBlockNumberInDB {
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 05ab5e6..d9e0cee 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -145,4 +145,4 @@ require (
 	gorm.io/driver/mysql v1.5.6 // indirect
 )
 
-replace github.com/hyperledger/fabric-protos-go => ./fabric-protos-go-0.2.0
+replace github.com/hyperledger/fabric-protos-go => ./fabric-protos-go-0.2.0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 4177def..bb604f6 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -5355,4 +5355,4 @@ rsc.io/pdf v0.1.1/go.mod h1:n8OzWcQ6Sp37PL01nO98y4iUCRdTGarVfzxY20ICaU4=
 rsc.io/quote/v3 v3.1.0/go.mod h1:yEA65RcK8LyAZtP9Kv3t0HmxON59tX3rD+tICJqUlj0=
 rsc.io/sampler v1.3.0/go.mod h1:T1hPZKmBbMNahiBKFy5HrXp6adAjACjK9JXDnKaTXpA=
 sigs.k8s.io/yaml v1.1.0/go.mod h1:UJmg0vDUVViEyp3mgSv9WPwZCDxu4rQW1olrI1uml+o=
-sourcegraph.com/sourcegraph/appdash v0.0.0-20190731080439-ebfcffb1b5c0/go.mod h1:hI742Nqp5OhwiqlzhgfbWU4mW4yO10fP+LoT9WOswdU=
+sourcegraph.com/sourcegraph/appdash v0.0.0-20190731080439-ebfcffb1b5c0/go.mod h1:hI742Nqp5OhwiqlzhgfbWU4mW4yO10fP+LoT9WOswdU=
\ No newline at end of file