Patel replaced V M Sahai who retired as chief justice today after reaching the age of superannuation.
"Yesterday, we received a notification (from the Supreme Court of India) regarding the appointment of Justice Jayant Patel as the acting Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court," High Court Registrar General B D Karia told PTI.
As per the HC website, Justice Patel (59), who hails from Veraval town in Junagadh district, graduated in commerce and law from M S University and started practising law in 1979.
He was elevated as an Additional Judge of the High Court on December 3, 2001 and was confirmed as a permanent judge on August 9, 2004.
Justice Patel was one of the judges in a division bench of the HC that had directed the CBI inquiry in 2011 into Ishrat Jahan fake encounter killing case of 2004.