hbase-client 2.0.x error
For me the reason was that i talked to a 1.4.9 database with the 2.x client libraries. I fixed it by using the correct version of the client, e.g.
compile("org.apache.hbase:hbase-client:1.4.9")
for gradle.
In your case, you need to update your pom.xml
<dependency>
<groupId>org.apache.hbase</groupId>
<artifactId>hbase-client</artifactId>
<version>1.2.4</version>
</dependency>
The result is the hbase server version and the hbase-client version inconsistency