There is a fundamental difference between Engineers releasing an aircraft under the MEL and Pilots consulting the MEL.
The engineer signs a CRS in the tech log , the CRS is for an INSPECTION and that the defect complies with the MEL.
Its the inspection that is the most important part of the process , and its this part that is missing when the pilot / maint control are involved without an engineer present .
99% of pilot /MEL situations are without an inspection being done - This creates the largest problem when using the MEL