diff --git a/control-plane/agents/src/bin/core/pool/pool_operations.rs b/control-plane/agents/src/bin/core/pool/pool_operations.rs
index ccf9a2b26..da3ac6730 100644
--- a/control-plane/agents/src/bin/core/pool/pool_operations.rs
+++ b/control-plane/agents/src/bin/core/pool/pool_operations.rs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ use stor_port::{
         transport::{CreatePool, CtrlPoolState, DestroyPool, Pool},
     },
 };
+use utils::dsp_created_by_key;
 
 #[async_trait::async_trait]
 impl ResourceLifecycle for OperationGuardArc<PoolSpec> {
@@ -169,6 +170,12 @@ impl ResourceLabel for OperationGuardArc<PoolSpec> {
         registry: &Registry,
         label_key: String,
     ) -> Result<Self::UnlabelOutput, SvcError> {
+        if label_key == dsp_created_by_key() {
+            return Err(SvcError::ForbiddenUnlabelKey {
+                labels: label_key,
+                resource_kind: ResourceKind::Pool,
+            });
+        }
         let cloned_pool_spec = self.lock().clone();
         let spec_clone = self
             .start_update(
diff --git a/control-plane/agents/src/common/errors.rs b/control-plane/agents/src/common/errors.rs
index 0637a5ec4..7d5001cc1 100644
--- a/control-plane/agents/src/common/errors.rs
+++ b/control-plane/agents/src/common/errors.rs
@@ -208,6 +208,15 @@ pub enum SvcError {
         labels: String,
         resource_kind: ResourceKind,
     },
+    #[snafu(display(
+        "Forbidden {}, cannot delete internal labels: {} ",
+        resource_kind,
+        labels
+    ))]
+    ForbiddenUnlabelKey {
+        labels: String,
+        resource_kind: ResourceKind,
+    },
     #[snafu(display("Multiple nexuses not supported"))]
     MultipleNexuses {},
     #[snafu(display("Storage Error: {}", source))]
@@ -801,6 +810,12 @@ impl From<SvcError> for ReplyError {
                 source,
                 extra,
             },
+            SvcError::ForbiddenUnlabelKey { resource_kind, .. } => ReplyError {
+                kind: ReplyErrorKind::InvalidArgument,
+                resource: resource_kind,
+                source,
+                extra,
+            },
             SvcError::MultipleNexuses { .. } => ReplyError {
                 kind: ReplyErrorKind::InvalidArgument,
                 resource: ResourceKind::Unknown,