diff --git a/dpctl/_sycl_queue.pyx b/dpctl/_sycl_queue.pyx
index 06342889b0..766f385a8f 100644
--- a/dpctl/_sycl_queue.pyx
+++ b/dpctl/_sycl_queue.pyx
@@ -1753,7 +1753,7 @@ cdef class WorkGroupMemory:
 
 
 cdef class _RawKernelArg:
-    def __dealloc(self):
+    def __dealloc__(self):
         if(self._arg_ref):
             DPCTLRawKernelArg_Delete(self._arg_ref)