INTRODUCTION: Anterior cruciate ligament injury is the most frequently injured ligament. Some studies have shown that meniscal and chondral injuries are well recognised in delayed ACL reconstruction. This study is done to know the prevalence of cartilage defect with respect to time of injury and time of surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 31 Patients with ACL tear who underwent arthroscopic ACL reconstruction were included from January 2019 to October 2020 fulfilling inclusion criteria. Cartilage defects were assessed at the time of diagnostic arthrosopy performed during Arthroscopic ACL reconstruction and were graded using Outerbridge classification. The duration of injury and grade of defects was assessed. RESULTS: Out of 31 patients, 80.64% were males, females were 19.36%. Right knee was most commonly injured (58.06%). Most patients were in age group of 20-25 years. Common mode of injury was RTA (54.83) followed by sports (35.48%).64.51% of patients were operated before 6 months from injury whereas 35.48% were operated after 6 months from injury. Among the defects Grade 1 was more common which was 56.66% whereas Grade 3 was seen in two patients with duration of injury of 2 years and 4 years. Grade 4 was seen in one patient with 3 years of injury. Most common site involved is the medial femoral condyle (56.66%) followed by medial tibial plateau (17%). Medial meniscal injury was found to be increasing with increase in duration of injury whereas lateral meniscal tears were more common in acute ACL tears . The grade of defects was found to be increasing with increase in the duration of injury as shown by the significant p value of 0.001. CONCLUSION: Incidence of cartilage defects is found to be increasing with the increase in the duration of injury with the most common site involved being medial femoral condyle. Early ACL reconstruction prevents secondary injury to other intra articular structures of the knee.