Agent discharge of service tax liability affirmed: agent payment treats provider's obligation as discharged, barring further adjudication.
The service provider's tax obligation may be discharged by an appointed agent because section 65(7) of the Finance Act defines the assessee to include an agent; when an agent pays the service tax on the provider's behalf, the provider's liability is treated as discharged and subsequent show-cause adjudication is not warranted.

Service tax payment under wrong head still discharges liability; misclassification does not negate tax payment responsibility.
Payment of service tax under an incorrect service classification does not, by itself, prevent the tax liability from being regarded as discharged; the essential consideration is that tax was remitted on behalf of the taxable activity, so recording the remittance under a different accounting head ordinarily cannot be used to deny satisfaction of the service tax demand.