ATR 72 Captain reported concerns over compliance after being directed to fly an aircraft with malfunctioning equipment that was not deactivated per MEL. The aircraft was operated in revenue service and the component was later deferred correctly.

Narrative

On the above date and time I accepted an aircraft with an open write up. I called ZZZ to inquire about this. Dispatch and Maintenance told me I could take the plane; revenue; and do an operational flight check. I wasn't comfortable with this so I called our supervisor. I sent him a picture of the write up and asked for him to make a call on this. Name explained that it was legal and we had a provision in our manual for this operation. The bleed that was MELed was reconnected; but I was told that the MEL would stay on. I was to take the plane fly it up to ZZZ1 and see if it was fixed. I did sign the book in the corrective action that it had a successful flight. I was told that the Contract Maintenance was to clear the MEL after that log entry. That didn't happen. I flew the plane back to ZZZ2 without incident. Can the plane have an MEL without all Maintenance actions being complied with? Do we have an Operational Check Flight Procedure (OCF) in our manual?